The Diels-Planck lecture is awarded annually to an outstanding scientist and established leader in the field of nano and surface science. Nominations are assessed by the members of the KiNSIS and the winner is hosted by the Kiel University. The Diels-Planck lectures are open to the public.

The previous Diels-Planck lecture award winners are: 

2018               Professor Maki Kawai, Director General of the Institute for Molecular Science in Okazaki, Japan
2017               Professor Aldo R. Boccaccini, Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Imperial College London
2016               Professor Sotiris Pratsinis, ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
2015               Professor Ben Feringa, Universität Groningen (Netherlands)
2014               Dr. Gerhard Meyer vom IBM Research Laboratory, Zurich (Switzerland)

The lectures series honors the originators of the nanosciences in Kiel, the Nobel laureates Max Planck and Otto Diels.

Max Planck was born 1858 in Kiel and was appointed as professor of theoretical physics by the University of Kiel in 1897. In 1918 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking work on quantum theory, which is the fundamental theory to describe nanostructures.

Otto Diels was professor of chemistry at the University of Kiel from 1915 until his retirement in 1945. Together with his graduate student Kurt Alder he discovered and developed a class of chemical reactions that was later coined Diels-Alder reaction which is one of the most powerful methods to synthesize chemical compounds including nanomaterials. Otto Diels was awarded the Nobel Price in Chemistry in 1950.