Werner Schafer - Research scientist and teacher.

The following short biography recalls Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Werner Schafer , emeritus professor and director of the Medical Biology Department of the Max-Planck-Institut fur Virusforschung in Tubingen and scientific member of the Max-Planck Society who died on 25(th) April 2000. He was one of the mo st distinguished pioneers of animal virology and one of the great personali ties who since the Second World War have helped German science to regain it s international reputation. In a brief synopsis the important results of hi s work on the viruses he used as models to conduct his research have been p ortrayed. As a result of Schafer's scientific conception to gain insights i nto the functional characteristics of viruses by looking at their structure , the field of virology has taken new directions and founded a school whose pupils try to continue his successful and much honoured life's work.