15 ESPR (2) 2008     Front cover: Originally, the statue in front of 'House Wahnfried', the residence of the composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883) in Bayreuth, Germany, shows Ludwig Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Bavaria (1845-1886). He was the patron of Richard Wagner. Ludwig's legacy is intertwined with the history of art and architecture, as he commissioned the construction of several extravagant castles (the most famous being Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau). Thereby, he opened Bavaria to the tourism, though without actually having planned that. --- Otto Hutzinger, Professor, Chair of Ecological Chemistry and Geochemistry, University of Bayreuth (1983-1998 and since then Emeritus), where he experienced the high time of his research work, is an architect, constructor and visionary as well. He opened the interdisciplinary and network thinking to the scientific community, across all compartments and simultaneously all areas connected with the environment. In doing that, he constructed and developed the area of 'Environmental Sciences / Umweltwissenschaften'. So we thought that this elevated position on Ludwig's statue is the adequate place for Otto Hutzinger to receive the cheering of the scientific community on the occasion of his 75th anniversary. --- Cover design: Edwin Grondinger, abavo GmbH, Nebelhornstraße 8, 86807 Buchloe, Germany (edwin.grondinger@abavo.de; www.abavo.de)

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