| Georg Manecke | | | | 1949 | Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer (post-doc) |
| Gerhard Ertl | Inorganic chemistry, surface chemistry | | | | |
| Gisela Weinberg | | | | | |
| Ronald Imbihl | | | | | |
| Hans-Joachim Freund | | | | | |
| Karl Doblhofer | | | | | |
| Klaus J. Vetter | Physical chemistry | | | 1951 | Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer (post-doc) |
| Swetlana Schauermann | | | | 2005 | Hans-Joachim Freund (grad student) |
| Dieter Wöhrle | Renewable energy like solar energy | | | 1967 | Georg Manecke (grad student) |
| Markus Eiswirth | | | | | |
| Robert Schlögl | | | | 1989 | Gerhard Ertl (post-doc) |
| Gert von Helden | | | | | |
| Stephan Warnke | mass spectrometry, ion spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, ion mobility spectrometry, biomolecular structure, analytical technologies | Molecular Physics Molecular Physics | | | Gert von Helden (grad student), Gerard J. M. Meijer (grad student) |
| Xiaoyang Zhu | Solar energy conversion, photophysics, spectroscopy, & interfacial science | | | 1993 | Gerhard Ertl (post-doc) |
| Peter Strasser | | | | | Gerhard Ertl (grad student) |
| Martin Wolf | | | | 1991 | Gerhard Ertl (grad student) |
| Martin W. Adler | Pharmacology, substance abuse | | | | Gerhard Ertl (grad student) |
| Heinz Gerischer | Physical chemistry | | | | |
| Michael Giersig | organic and inorganic nanosized materials | | 1985 | 1988 | Elmar Zeitler (grad student) |
| Martin Muhler | catalysis, chemical kinetics, reaction engineering | | 1986 | 1989 | Gerhard Ertl (grad student) |
| Chuan-Jian Zhong | Inorganic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry | | 1988 | 1990 | Karl Doblhofer (post-doc) |
| Curtis Shannon | Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry | | 1988 | 1990 | Gerhard Ertl (post-doc) |
| Goetz Veser | Chemical Engineering, Inorganic Chemistry, Nanotechnology | | 1990 | 1994 | Ronald Imbihl (grad student) |
| Kai-Olaf Hinrichsen | | | 1993 | 1996 | Gerhard Ertl (grad student) |
| Christian Hess | surface chemistry and spectroscopy – Surface chemistry of nanomaterials | | 1998 | 2001 | Gerhard Ertl (grad student), Martin Wolf (grad student) |
| Suljo Linic | Heterogeneous catalysis | | 2003 | 2004 | Matthias Scheffler (post-doc) |
| Jochen Küpper | molecular physics, chemical physics, physical chemistry, biophysics, cold molecules, ultrafast dynamics | | | | |
| Avishek Ghosh | Ultrafast Spectroscopy | | 2010 | 2011 | Martin Wolf (post-doc) |
| William E. Kaden | Analytical Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics | | 2010 | 2014 | Hans-Joachim Freund (post-doc) |
| Casey P. O'Brien | surface chemistry | Chemical Physics | 2011 | 2014 | Hans-Joachim Freund (post-doc) |
| Hamilton Varela | physical chemistry, electrochemistry, non-linear dynamics | | 2013 | 2014 | Markus Eiswirth (post-doc) |