Outstanding scientist, doctor with a warm heart

The Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians (GDNÄ) mourns the loss of its long-standing member Professor Michael P. Manns. The internationally renowned gastroenterologist was 73 years old.

‘He lived wholeheartedly for his patients and his colleagues,’ reads an obituary published by the Hannover Medical School (MHH) on the death of its former president, Professor Michael P. Manns. According to the university, the renowned liver disease specialist succumbed to cancer in mid-August. Although ravaged by the disease, he continued to work at the MHH until the very end. Michael P. Manns was 73 years old. 

‘Michael Manns was a loyal member of the GDNÄ for many years. With his passing, we have lost a highly respected scientist who worked tirelessly and with visionary energy for the good of humanity,’ said Professor Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, President of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians. 

‘Science has lost one of its best,’ said MHH President Professor Denise Hilfiker-Kleiner, adding: ‘I mourn the loss of a friend.’ Mann’s legacy will live on and continue to save many lives in the future. 

‘Michael Manns was my mentor, and I am eternally grateful to him,’ says Professor Heiner Wedemeyer, Director of the MHH Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Infectiology and Endocrinology. ‘Chief physicians and doctors throughout Germany have benefited from his expertise, his encouragement and, above all, his immense personal support.’ 

According to the university, Manns shaped the MHH for decades. From 1991 to 2020, he headed the MHH Clinic for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology; from 2019 to the end of 2024, he was at the helm of the university. His tenure as president coincided with the coronavirus pandemic, a generational change at many levels and plans for the new MHH building. At the beginning of 2025, Michael Manns took up a senior professorship at the Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (CiiM), which he co-founded and which is a joint initiative of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and the MHH. 

Manns’ research focused on viral hepatitis, autoimmune diseases of the liver, hepatocellular carcinoma and transplant medicine. He was involved in clinical trials for new standard therapies and founded the National Competence Network for Hepatitis, which later became the German Liver Foundation. 

Manns received numerous honours for his services. He was one of the world’s most cited scientists and held the chair of several renowned societies, including the German Society for Digestive and Metabolic Diseases (DGVS), the German Working Group for the Study of the Liver (GASL), the German Society for Internal Medicine (DGIM) and United European Gastroenterology (UEG). In April 2025, the then Minister President Stephan Weil (SPD) awarded him the Grand Cross of Merit of the State of Lower Saxony.

“We will miss him very much”

He was closely associated with the GDNÄ for decades: as an organiser of splendid conferences, as an author, interview partner and benevolent, competent advisor: Professor Dietrich Baron von Engelhardt has now passed away in Karlsruhe at the age of 83. In 2016, the renowned historian of science was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Medal for his outstanding services to the further development of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians.

According to his family, Dietrich von Engelhardt died on 14 January 2025. “Out of this death of nature, out of this dead shell, a more beautiful nature, the spirit emerges” – this quotation from Hegel introduces the obituary and those who knew Dietrich von Engelhardt will find it extremely fitting.

“The death of Dietrich von Engelhardt is a bitter loss for the GDNÄ,” says Professor Michael Dröscher, Treasurer and Secretary General of the GDNÄ. He adds: “The fantastic symposium he organized to mark the 175th anniversary of the GDNÄ with many prominent figures from science and politics will remain unforgotten.” As a member of the GDNÄ Education Commission, Professor von Engelhardt was a pioneer of general education through the natural sciences. Michael Dröscher: “Until the end, he was always at our side with his profound historical knowledge in an amiable manner. We will miss him greatly and honour his memory.”

The commemorative publication marking the 200th anniversary of the GDNÄ contains a four-page interview with Professor von Engelhardt. When asked how he explained the GDNÄ’s resilience, he replied: “Above all, with its uniqueness. Since its foundation in 1822, its core concern has been the interdisciplinary exchange between scientists and physicians, as well as the connection to philosophy and society.” He would like to see a dedicated effort to build bridges with the humanities, not least as a contribution to solving the ethical and legal challenges of the present day.

In the summer of 2024, Dietrich von Engelhardt published the impressive work “Goethe as a Natural Scientist in the Judgement of 19th Century Science and Medicine”. This comprehensive volume of sources, which fills a gap in research, was produced with the collaboration of his wife Ulrike von Engelhardt. In an interview that can be found on this website, he reported on his decades of work on Goethe and his works on topics in the natural sciences and medicine. He said that his book is dedicated to their reception in the 19th century, but “what would be necessary and revealing now would be a comparison with the reactions in the humanities and arts since the 19th century until today – a work that I would like to leave to other researchers.” Now we understand why he said that.