Persönliche Seite von Prof. Norbert Frank Norbert Frank

• Lehrpreis der Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie (2018)
• Preis für aussergewöhnliche Leistungen der CEA (2009)
• EU Marie-Curie Stipendium (2001) (100 k€)
• DFG Individuelles Internationales Austauschstipendium (1997) (32 k€)

When I think about my personal achievements after so many years in science and teaching, one stands out above all: I did not give up. Despite countless rejection letters and many critical voices along the way, each “no” became a reason to try harder. Every skeptical comment became a motivation to critically reassess my thinking—either to change direction or improve my ideas until I could convince even my strongest opponents.

I have not become a particularly clever, successful, or visible scientist when compared to some of my brilliant early-career peers. But I take pride in my work, and I am honoured to hold a professorship at the prestigious Heidelberg University.

My path has not been straightforward. I started out with a teacher who didn’t believe I should even attend high school due to my struggles with reading, writing, and managing anger. During my university studies, I often felt inadequate and doubted whether I would ever succeed—until my master's project, where I not only finished with distinction but also made breakthroughs that fueled my confidence.

In my PhD, I became a respected expert in dating “dirty” carbonates and investigating early human history. I helped push my mentor’s team into new scientific fields and technologies, gaining recognition in the process. Still, I consider my two most significant achievements to be the establishment of two fully funded, state-of-the-art geochemistry laboratories: one at LSCE in France, and one at the IUP in Heidelberg.

Securing funding and setting up these LA-MC-ICPMS facilities—each with multiple mass spectrometers and improved clean lab environments—was a long and difficult process, often met with resistance. Yet today, these labs are thriving research hubs, worth many millions of euros in third-party funding, and instrumental to hundreds of scientific discoveries. More importantly, they have trained hundreds of students over the past 15 years.

But my greatest achievement is, without doubt, my passion for teaching. Despite my nervousness and lack of natural teaching talent, I have always dreamed of inspiring students to explore our environment with curiosity and wonder. Perhaps, at times, I have succeeded. I’ve long since stopped counting the extra hours I’ve invested in mentoring, guiding, and building a supportive environment for student growth—and I do not regret a single second of it.