Gerhard Ertl studied physics in Stuttgart, Munich and Paris and received his PhD in physical chemistry from the Technical University in Munich. He worked as a professor in Hannover and Munich, as well as a visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley. In 1986 he became director at the Fritz Haber Institut in Berlin, where he retired in 2004. He received numerous awards and honours, is the Nobel laureate in chemistry in 2007, and a member of several academies. Helmut Knözinger studied physics at the University of Munich where he received his PhD in physical chemistry and became a professor of physical chemistry. Currently he works as a retired professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry of the University of Munich. His research interests are the fields of surface spectroscopy, surface chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis. Prof. Knözinger is co-editor of numerous books and member of several editorial boards. He was President of the International Association of Catalysis Societies IACS and received several national and international awards, such as The Alwin Mittasch-Medal and the Max Planck-Forschungspreis. Ferdi Schüth studied chemistry and law in Münster, Germany. After he received his PhD Schüth went to Minneapolis, USA for a Post-Doc and then to Mainz university as habilitand. In 1995 he became professor in Frankfurt, Germany. Since 1998 Schüth is Director at the Max-Planck-Institute für Kohlenforschung. His research interests are in the area of materials science and catalysis, especially in the synthesis of catalyst materials. Even though Schüth is a relatively young scientist he is already well decorated with awards, e.g. the Leibniz-Award of the German Science Foundation (DFG). He was recently appointed vice president of the DFG. Jens Weitkamp studied chemistry in Karlsruhe and Berlin and received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Karlsruhe. In 1986 he became a professor of Chemical Technology in Oldenburg, and in 1988 he was appointed Director of the Institute of Chemical Technology of the University of Stuttgart, Germany. He is the founder of the journal Microporous and Mesoporous Materials and a co-editor of numerous books on heterogeneous catalysis and zeolites. From 1997 to 2001 he served as the President of the International Zeolite Association (IZA), and since 2002 he has been a Vice-President of DECHEMA, the Society for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in Frankfurt.