The physicist and molecular biologist Eduard Kellenberger (*1920, † 2004) was one of the founding fathers of the Biozentrum in 1971. He completed his doctorate in 1953 at the University of Geneva, under the supervision of the physicist and viral geneticist Jean Weigle. From the start of his research career, he attached much importance to an interdisciplinary approach to research and was also regarded as a pioneer in the fields of molecular biology and biophysics. In 1970, Kellenberger was appointed as Professor of Microbiology by the University of Basel and was entrusted with establishing an interdisciplinary research institute, the Biozentrum we know today. He was a member of the National Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation, a founding member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the International Union for Pure and Applied Biophysics.