Solid-State Chemistry

Frank Hoffmann is a senior lecturer at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and head of the X-ray crystallography division at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hamburg. After studying chemistry and obtaining a PhD at the University of Hamburg, he worked as a research assistant in the group of Prof. Michael Fröba at the University of Giessen in the field of periodic mesoporous organosilicas (PMOs). Since his return to Hamburg in 2007, he has worked primarily on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with a special focus on the topological analysis of such compounds. He is author/co-author of about 70 scientific publications, including two book chapters.

In 2014 he offered a 7-week "Massive Open Online Course" (MOOC) on the subject crystals and symmetry, in which more than 2,000 participants were enrolled. The content of this internet course is summarized in a textbook, available in German and English. He has received several teaching awards from the Hamburg Chemistry department for the "best lecture of the semester". He also maintains a YouTube channel, where the MOOC videos are available, his own crystallography blog and is active on twitter as @crystalmooc.