Wolfram Saenger, a German biochemist, crystallographer and academic, died on February 16, 2026, at the age of 86.
He was known for his pioneering contributions to nucleic acid crystallography and structural biology over a scientific career spanning more than four decades. Saenger worked at Harvard University, the Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine and the Free University of Berlin, where he led the Institute for Crystallography until his retirement in 2011.
At the Free University of Berlin, he built one of Germany’s leading crystallography groups and trained numerous doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers. His research focused on the structural chemistry of nucleic acids, protein–nucleic acid complexes, hydration patterns in DNA and molecular recognition at atomic resolution.
Wolfram Saenger (23 April 1939 – 16 February 2026) was a German biochemist and protein biochemist known for his pioneering contributions to nucleic acid crystallography and structural biology. Over a scientific career spanning more than four decades, he worked at Harvard University (Harvard Medical School, Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine, and the Free University of Berlin, where he led the Institute for Crystallography until his retirement in 2011.