Although none of his superb collection of fine engraved German glass made it to Mars, Professor Biemann's miniature instruments were sent to the Red Planet aboard Nasa's 'Viking Mission', tasked with searching for organic compounds on the planet's surface.

Biemann's beautiful collection of glass will be sold on 26 November at Bonhams New Bond Street. Prices for these unique art works on glass range from £1,000 up to £180,000.

Professor Biemann's inquiring mind made him a permanent ficture at the world-famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked from 1963 to 1996.

He was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1966, and as a member of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) in 1993. He has since been awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal for Chemistry in 2007.

His passion for glass and glass collecting began during a recess at the 1993 organic chemistry conference in Graz, Austria. He discovered that he was related to the Dominik Biemann (1800-1857), the famous glass engraver, and the link sent him on a mission to build a collection.

The highlight of the sale is an impressive Silesian Hochschnitt goblet and cover by Friedrich Winter, with the cypher of Count Johann Anton von Schaffgotsch, Hermsdorf, from the late 17th century. It is stimated at £120,000-180,000.

In 1687, Winter was granted a special privilege to set up a water-powered cutting works, and his workshop issued a series of some of the finest Baroque goblets, expressing in glass the connoisseur's and collector's delight in objects fashioned from rock crystal.