Introduction

Abstract

Professor Manfred Stamm, whose 60th birthday was in November 2009, is one of the most prominent polymer physicists of our time. His significant contributions to the topic extend not only over a period of 30 years but also over significantly diverse fields such as scattering techniques, thin films, nanostructured materials and single molecule devices. In his numerous roles as an outstanding researcher, motivated supervisor, administrator, colleague, referee, author, editor, speaker and friend he has a notable impact to the field. All contributions to this Special Issue from diverse fields and from different countries and institutions celebrate Manfred's 60th birthday and mark his wide and notable influence. Manfred Stamm's involvement with polymers started after completing his Diplom in Solid State Physics at Frankfurt University, when he joined the Group of Professor E. W. Fischer in Mainz to work on neutron scattering in soft matter. During his doctoral thesis studies Manfred spent extensive time in Grenoble to carry out the neutron scattering experiments and the magnetic measurements. After finishing his Ph.D. Manfred moved to the Institute of Solid State Research in Jülich as a staff scientist to built up a SANS instrument. By that time he started working on the preparation of deuterated and conductive polymers. In 1984 he went for a year to Brookhaven National Laboratory and performed the very first experiments on neutron reflectivity a technique that was during that time in its infancy for polymer science. Neutron reflectivity was to play an important role in the understanding of polymer interfaces, a topic of significant importance in polymer science for a number of fundamental research aspects (such as understanding polymer interdiffusion) and industrial applications (such as adhesion). After the successful establishment of his new research topics, Manfred accepted the offer to return back to Mainz as a project leader in the newly established Max Planck Institute for Polymer research. In Mainz he stayed for 14 years, working on diverse topics dealing with polymer surfaces, interfaces, phase transitions and the development of scattering techniques. In this time X-ray scattering experiment became more and more important to investigate these sample systems. During these productive years in Mainz, Manfred finished his Habilitation in Physical Chemistry in 1993 working with different interfacial techniques with nanometer resolution. In 1999 Manfred accepted an offer to move to the Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research in Dresden, obtaining also the chair of physical chemistry of polymer materials at the chemistry department of Technical University of Dresden. In Dresden, Manfred intensified his work on polymer brushes and in parallel initiated work on nanostructured materials, hybrid nanomaterials, single molecule devices, and smart materials. Manfred's work has been widely recognized internationally and he has served in many committees across Europe. In 2004 he was awarded the International Belgium Polymer Group Award. Of high impact has been his wide international network of collaboration from Latin America to Australia, and the very large numbers of former Ph.D. students and post docs who have worked with him during these many years. The contributions to this special volume come from colleagues who have benefited in various ways from involvement with Manfred.