Let us celebrate the outstanding researcher and teacher of inorganic and analytical chemistry and the developer and user of the thermoanalytical methods and, last but not least, the member of the Editorial Board of Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (JTAC). Prof. Lauri Niinisto graduated in chemical engineering and received the doctor degree at the Helsinki University of Technology and after his PhD, he spent 1 year at the University of Stockholm. He became full professor and the Head of the Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry in 1977, and held that position until 2007. He was the Dean of the Technical University of Helsinki, Department of Process Engineering and Materials Science from 1987 until 1989. He worked at the University of Florida (1985–1986), at the Technical University of Vienna (1993) and at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (2000) as well. At the beginning, he dealt with the synthesis and the structure of inorganic compounds, first of all, with the measurements based on X-ray diffraction and thermoanalytical techniques. He obtained outstanding results on catalysts, supraconduction and precursors of rare earth compounds. Beyond the topics mentioned before, he became interested in the chemistry and technology of thin solid films. In the latter field, Prof. Niinisto and his colleagues worked out new materials and processes for the preparation of electronic devices and catalysts with atomic layer epitaxy (ALE) or atomic layer deposition (ALD) being a novel gas phase deposition technique at the time—which has become an industrial scale manufacturing process since. Binary and ternary oxides and other substances developed in Prof. Niinisto’s laboratory—often in industrial and international research cooperation—are applied in electroluminescent displays, gas sensors, as well as optical, conducting and buffer layers and coatings. In his research, Lauri Niinisto used an integrated approach, addressing the problems ranging from precursor synthesis, through preparation of films for the characterization of their structure, properties and applicability. A substantial part of his results consists of new solutions for the analysis and characterization of the prepared materials, based on modern methods (such as SIMS, XPS and ion beam techniques). The advanced materials synthesized and characterized include (among others) cerium activated strontium sulphide, yttrium stabilized zirconia, tin(IV) oxide coated porous silicon, perovskite type oxides and high temperature superconductors. Lauri Niinisto contributed substantially to the development of ALD into a widely accepted and applied procedure in the manufacture of microeletronic devices. On the above mentioned territories Prof. Niinisto published hundreds of papers, many books, chapters as an author and co-author. In addition, he was an inventor of new technological processes. He has often read lectures on the history of chemistry. His activity was outstanding in the organization of international scientific life. He has been the member of famous chemical journals and journals dealing with material sciences. He organized many conferences. He was the leader and member of many international scientific organizations such as the President of European Rare Earth G. Liptay G. Pokol (&) Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szt. Gellert ter 4, Budapest 1111, Hungary e-mail: pokol@mail.bme.hu