On November 17th, Professor Rudolf K. Thauer, European Academy of Sciences Member and the Vice President of German Academy of Sciences, visits the Institute and gives an excellent report about biomass and energy production. The seminar is held by Deputy Director Dongzhi WEI. Professor Thauer introduces current research situation on methanogenic archaea and the development prospects of biological energy of various counties. He then has a detailed discussion with some researchers. Professor Thauer's visit plays an important positive role in further strengthening the co-operation between the Institute and the German Max Planck Terrestrial Microbiology Institute. At the same time, the visit promotes research and development on anaerobic bacteria in the biological energy area. A brief introduction to Prof Rudolf K. Thauer Professor Rudolf K. Thauer is European Academy of Sciences member and the Vice President of the German Academy of Sciences. He has won a series of scientific prizes including Leibniz Prize and Carl Friedrich Prize. His main research areas are biochemistry, physiology, ecology of the anaerobic bacteria and archaea. 369 of his papers are published in the Web of Knowledge, among which the number of single paper citations has reached 1650 times and the total number of citations is up to 15,000 times.