Obituary Stuart Penkett

 

The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry mourns the loss of Prof. Dr. Stuart Penkett, who was closely associated with the institute as External Scientific Member for many years.

Professor Stuart Penkett, a pioneering atmospheric chemist and External Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, passed away on January 9, 2026 in the age of 87.

The professor emeritus at the University of East Anglia (UEA) was a long-term friend and scientific colleague of Professor Paul Crutzen and Professor Jos Lelieveld. 

Stuart Penkett was known for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of the composition of the atmosphere and the long-range transport of air pollutants, and played a decisive role in shaping atmospheric science. He inspired generations of scientists at our institute, in the UK, and around the world. 

We will remember him for his intellectual rigor, his generosity with his time, and his humor. His legacy lives on in the science he advanced and in the generations of scientists he mentored. Our thoughts are with his family.

Jos Lelieveld, Yafang Cheng, Gerald H. Haug, and Ulrich Pöschl

Further information:
https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/persons/stuart-penkett/