Life and Work
Jens Reich grew up in Halberstadt. He studied medicine and molecular biology at Berlin’s Humboldt University and began his professional career as a junior doctor in his hometown. After further study in biochemistry, he turned to research work. In 1964, Jens Reich obtained his doctorate with the dissertation “Arterial Vascular Sounds“ and from 1968 onwards worked at the Central Institute of Molecular Biology of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Buch. In 1976 he completed the dissertation “Time and Motion in the Metabolism of Living Cells“ for his second doctorate.
As early as 1970 he co-founded a private “Friday Circle“, a group of about 30 opposition-minded citizens who met to discuss the GDR system. In the 80s the State Security Ministry spied on the group and kept records of their meetings. Soon after his appointment to the post of the head of the department at the Central Institute of Molecular Biology, Jens Reich lost this post. He was further sanctioned for his oppositional attitude with a ban on travel to Western countries.
In September 1989 Jens Reich was one of the authors and signatories of the appeal “Aufbruch 89 – Neues Forum“ – “Fresh Start 89 – New Forum“, leading to the founding of the New Forum. On 4 November 1989, Jens Reich, along with Friedrich Schorlemmer, Christa Wolf, Ulrich Mühe and other well-known figures in the GDR, was one of the speakers at the Alexanderplatz demonstration in East Berlin, the largest demonstrations held at that time.
His daughter is the physics professor Stephanie Reich.
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Famous quotes containing the words life and/or work:
“The future of humanity is uncertain, even in the most prosperous countries, and the quality of life deteriorates; and yet I believe that what is being discovered about the infinitely large and infinitely small is sufficient to absolve this end of the century and millennium. What a very few are acquiring in knowledge of the physical world will perhaps cause this period not to be judged as a pure return of barbarism.”
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“Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”
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