Peter K. Schuster (7 March 1941 – 15 June 2026) was an Austrian theoretical chemist known for his work with the German Nobel Laureate Manfred Eigen in developing the quasispecies model. His work has made great strides in the understanding of viruses and their replication, as well as theoretical mechanisms in the origin of life.
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Life and career
Schuster was born in Vienna, Austria on 7 March 1941. He graduated with highest honours from a "gymnasium". Schuster studied chemistry and physics at the University of Vienna and earned his PhD in 1967. He was a Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. Together with Eigen, Schuster developed the quasispecies model. Schuster was a full professor of theoretical chemistry at the University of Vienna, the founding director of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Jena, Germany, as well as the head of its Department of Molecular Evolutionary Biology. He was an external faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute. Schuster was later the President of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He died on 15 June 2026, at the age of 85.
Honours and awards
1971: Theodor Körner promotion prize
1971: Jubilee Award of the Chemical-Physical Society
1983: Erwin Schrödinger Prize of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
1989: Dr. Asen Zlatarov prize of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
1993: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
1993: Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
1995: Philip Morris Research Prize
1995: Josef Loschmidt Medal of the Austrian Chemical Society
1997: City of Vienna Prize for Science
1997: Cardinal Innitzer Prize for Science
1999: Wilhelm Exner Medal of the Austrian Trade Association.
2010: Great Silver Medal for Service to the City of Vienna