For more than two decades, Dr. Nielsen has been a front leader in his field. He contributed to numerous innovations supporting the establishment of yeast as common production organisms for fuels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and food ingredients.

“It is our pleasure to recognize Jens Nielsen’s achievements with the gold medal who we have given to outstanding researchers since 1914,“ says Professor Jochen Förster Chairman of the Emil Christian Hansen Foundation for Microbiology, Director, Yeast and Fermentation, Carlsberg Research Laboratory.

About Emil Christian Hansen

Professor Emil Christian Hansen was head of the Department of Physiology at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory from 1879 to 1909. In 1883, Professor Hansen developed the first method for culturing pure yeast, which was of major importance for Carlsberg and revolutionized the entire brewing industry.

Professor Hansen passed away 110 years ago, 27 August 1909, and was recognized with a full-page obituary in Nature magazine. He is buried in Copenhagen and left behind a large library, especially rich in the history of science, and a considerable fortune, including funds set aside to establish the Emil Christian Hansen Foundation based at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory, an integral part of the Carlsberg Group and the Carlsberg Foundation, for prizes in microbiology research.

The Emil Christian Hansen Foundation has through-out the years awarded outstanding achievements in microbiology research. Recipients include Øjvind Winge; Director of the Physiological Department at the Carlsberg Research Laboratory (1933 – 1956), Gerald Fink, Professor of Genetics, MIT (since 1982) and Prof. Roman Herschel, University of Washington (1944 – 1989)