The Board of the “Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften” has elected Professor Ferenc Krausz, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching and Chair of Experimental Physics at the Ludwig- Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, as a member in recognition of his “scientific achievements and personality”. Founded in Schweinfurt in 1652 as Academia Naturae Curiosorum, the Leopoldina is the world’s oldest continuously existing academy for medicine and the natural sciences. Among its over 7000 members in all since the Academy was founded are eminent scholars and scientists as Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander von Humboldt, Justus von Liebig and Max Planck. In 2008, the Leopoldina was appointed »German National Academy of Sciences«. Following the tradition of an”altehrwürdige Gelehrtengesellschaft”, the academy’s goal is not only to promote science but also to participate in discussions on social and political questions. Today, about 1500 renowned scientists from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and many other countries are active members of the society.