Professor Jan Peter Toennies (born 3 May 1930) is an American scientist and former director of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (formerly named the Max Planck Institute for Flow Research). He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of German immigrant parents.
Lower Merion High School, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania 1948, Amherst College, Amherst, MA., B.A. 1952, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, Ph.D. in chemistry 1957. Fulbright student in Göttingen 1953–1954.
1957–1962 DFG Stipendium with Prof. W. Paul, Physics Institute, University of Bonn, Germany.
1962–1965 Scientific assistant to Prof. W. Paul, Physics Institute, University of Bonn.
1965–1967 Privat-Dozent, Physics Institute, University of Bonn.
1967–1968 Dozent, Physics Institute, University of Bonn.
1965–1974 Visiting Professor, Institute for Physical Chemistry, Göteborg University.
1969–1998 Appointment to Scientific Member of the Max-Planck-Society and Director at the Max-Planck-Institute für Strömungsforschung (now Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization).
1971 – Associate Professor, University of Göttingen; Adjunct-Professor, University of Bonn.
1981 - Founding member of the World Cultural Council.
1998–2002 Acting Director at the Max-Planck-Institut für Strömungsforschung.
2002–2007 Emeritus Scientific Member of the Max-Planck-Society
Prizes and special recognition
1964 Physics Prize of the Academy of Sciences, Göttingen
1983 "Fellow" of the American Physical Society
1988 Alumni Citation, Brown University
1990 Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen
1991 Gold Heyrovsky Medal of the Czech Academy of Sciences
1992 Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize for solid state physics
1992 Max-Planck-Prize of the Germany Research Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
1993 Member of the Germany Academy of Natural Scientists "Leopoldina" in Halle, Germany
1996 Recipient of the first MOLEC Conference Award
1999 Honorary Fellow of the International Molecular Beams Symposium
2000 Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
2002 Stern-Gerlach Gold Medal of the German Physical Society
2005 Kolos Medal of University of Warsaw
2006 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics (with Giacinto Scoles)
2007 Honorary Doctorate in Science, Amherst College, MA, USA
