Alexandra Knauer receives the Pittcon Heritage Award

Entrepreneur Alexandra Knauer, managing director of lab instrument manufacturer KNAUER, is honored in the USA with the Pittcon Heritage Award 2026.

The award honors outstanding individuals who have made a lasting contribution to the development of instrumental analysis and laboratory sciences. The award ceremony took place on March 8, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas, during the Pittcon Conference and Expo, in the presence of approximately 700 conference participants.

Surprisingly, Alexandra Knauer had not received a US visa and was therefore unable to travel as planned. Dr. Markus Fuchs, who has been with KNAUER for 30 years, accepted the award on her behalf. A video message from Ms. Knauer was shown during the ceremony. In his laudatory speech, David A. Cole, CEO and President of the Science History Institute based in Philadelphia, praised Alexandra Knauer in particular for her entrepreneurial vision, scientific innovation and socially responsible leadership. As a prize winner, she will also be inducted into the Pittcon Hall of Fame.

Alexandra Knauer is the second generation to run the Berlin-based family business and has successfully transformed it over the past decades from a traditional manufacturer of analytical measuring instruments into a diversified life science technology provider. Under her leadership, new business areas such as fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) and technologies for the production of lipid nanoparticles have been established alongside analytical and preparative HPLC systems.

In her video message, Alexandra Knauer expressed her sincere gratitude and emphasized the importance of innovation, history, and sustainability, as well as flexibility. She highlighted a new 3-in-1 LC detector system and the upcoming market launch of a modular oligonucleotide synthesizer as milestones in the company's recent development.

Alexandra Knauer dedicated the award to her father, Dr. Herbert Knauer (1931-2024), who founded the company in 1962 together with his wife Roswitha and shaped it for many years with his inventive spirit. He recognized the potential of liquid chromatography early on and was a pioneer in 1974 with the introduction of a modular and compact gradient HPLC system.

The prize has been awarded jointly by the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation) since 2002. The award ceremony takes place annually as part of a special ceremony during Pittcon.

The KNAUER team in Berlin cheered and celebrated this award on Monday with a special breakfast hosted by the management.