Bill S. Hansson

Bill Hansson is a Swedish chemical ecologist specializing in how odors are detected and processed in the brain; mainly using insects as model systems. After full professorships at Lund University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences he was recruited as Director at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in 2006. His most important contributions reveal how vital odor information is detected and processed and how it leads to a relevant behavior. These studies are typically interdisciplinary including chemistry, neurobiology, molecular biology and ethology, and often also field ecology. Among several Academy memberships, Hansson is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Since 2014 Hansson is Vice President of the Max Planck Society.