From the farm to Max Planck

Sven Lüttke is grateful for the support he received some 70+ years ago from the Max Planck Society. Living in Ockenheim, he reflects on his life, including his childhood on a farm and his successful career at Boehringer Ingelheim. Now, he aims to give back to support future researchers.

Text: Julia Meyer-Hermann

"The deer were in the garden last night, again!" Sven Lüttke could tell because the young, fresh leaves of the roses had been nibbled away. "Damn creatures!" the 88-year-old grumbles quietly — and then laughs. "Well, I reckon they belong here, right? After all, we share the environment."

Sven Lüttke's house is located on the outskirts of Ockenheim, a small wine-growing village near Bingen in Midwest Germany. The garden is large — about three thousand square meters — and well-tended, without looking too neat. The retired chemist spends a lot of time here cutting bushes, planting new shrubs, and observing the changes. When visitors come, first a round trip throught the garden is obligatory, to show the view of the rolling meadows and vineyards around.

The tranquility he feels here, looking out over the greenery and hills, reminds him of his earlier days in the mountains. For decades, he took high-altitude mountain tours in Valais with a group of friends he calls his "Alpine Snake." "My wife, two other married couples, and a soloist — we were a group of seven. We were all fearless of heights, sure-footed, and experienced in using crampons and ropes," he says. "I myself have led tours up several four-thousand-meter peaks." For him, each tour was a mixture of effort and shared joy, trust, and mutual responsibility. "I also participated in a rescue when my help was needed," he recalls.

This attitude has shaped his entire life. Today, it is reflected in his decision to give back to others in return for the support he has received. Sven Lüttke uses his fortune to support Max Planck Society and the University of Applied Sciences Bingen: "It's a thank you for the scholarship I had in Berlin back then." The 88-year-old now realizes that without this support, he would not have been able to achieve much on his own.

Sven Lüttke was born in Berlin in 1937. In 1941, his family relocated from the capital to a small farm in the Black Forest. They owned six cows and two horses until the Wehrmacht confiscated the latter. After that, they plowed with an ox. Those were years of scarcity, yet his memories are filled with bright moments. As a child, he spent a lot of time outdoors, learning to ski, helping on the farm, and playing in the meadows. In 1947, Lüttke passed the entrance exam for the humanistic boarding school Birklehof in Hinterzarten. "My father couldn't have paid the tuition, but I reckon they thought I was capable," he recalls. He received a scholarship and stayed there for eight and a half years. During this time, his father sold the farm and invested the money — unsuccessfully. The family lost almost everything. "From then on, we were actually in need," says Lüttke. But as a scholarship recipient, he had a stable foundation himself.

Back in Berlin, his ambitious father, a historian himself, wanted his son to study medicine and philosophy after graduating from high school. However, Lüttke looked up to his half-brother, Wolfgang, who was 17 years older, and an organic chemist and professor in Göttingen. Wolfgang and another brother were from his father's first marriage. "My father was married to a Jewish woman. The marriage ended in divorce in 1933, and she later perished in the Auschwitz concentration camp. My two brothers survived because they had an Aryan father..." When Lüttke talks about this, his voice grows quiet. Yet he speaks frankly, distancing himself from his father's attitude. Even as a young man, Lüttke openly contradicted his father. "I was kicked out at age 22 for criticizing my father. He was so harsh with my youngest brother. It was only years later that we became close again."

His older brother, Wolfgang, became the antithesis of their conservative father — and his mentor. "He advised me to study chemistry, and he was right with that advice." Lüttke financed his studies almost entirely himself by working construction and factory jobs. “I didn't have a single day off for several years,” he says. When his professor died unexpectedly shortly before Lüttke was set to graduate, he turned to the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, one of the oldest scientific institutes in Germany. Lüttke was accepted there. He wrote his first thesis there and received a research grant from the Max Planck Society for his doctorate. "That was 500 Deutschmarks, which I could live on quite well. Especially when you weren't used to having much before.”

After completing his Ph.D., Lüttke was faced with a decision. His professor wanted to place him abroad, at New York University. Lüttke declined because he was now married. He had met his wife, teacher at a Berlin high school, at a local Tennis club. "She certainly wouldn't have been thrilled if I had gone to the US," he says. He also turned down an offer to work at Bayer. "Too big, too anonymous," he sums up.

In 1970, Lüttke began working for the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. Hee would remain for nearly 30 years. There, he set up laboratories and managed a hydrogenation station with up to 18 employees. He was involved in developing Spiriva, a drug for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which causes the airways to narrow.

Outside of work, he founded a chemists' round table, a group where people discuss technical issues and share a glass of wine. He still organizes regular wine tastings with friends. His wife passed away a few years ago. They had no children. Lüttke now has a girlfriend from the neighboring village, who was the former partner of a deceased bridge friend. They see each other regularly, but each has their own home and retreat.

Lüttke sometimes speculates on the stock market for fun, something he used to do regularly and make good profits from. "I have achieved a certain level of prosperity," he says. "But I live a rather modest life. My wife was the same," says Lüttke. His house in Ockenheim reflects this attitude. Inside, there are no fancy designer pieces, only things that have shaped his life: shelves full of books and a large music collection. Photos of mountain tours and travels hang on the walls. They are memories of the good feeling of having experienced and achieved something.

Sven Lüttke knows how much an opportunity can mean. He knows it can change a life. Today, he wants to pass on what was made possible for him back then. Since 2021, he has donated regularly to the Max Planck Society every year. In his will, he stipulated that two-thirds of his estate would go to the MPG and one-third to the University of Applied Sciences Bingen. Both institutions will support young researchers, just as he was once supported.