Newsroom
Stay informed with our latest news and announcements on this page. For more in-depth content, we also encourage visitors to explore our bimonthly STRUCTURES Newsletter magazine, which features a variety of articles, interviews with members, and background information on our latest research and activities.
STRUCTURES Member Wolfram Pernice Receives Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation
Prof. Wolfram PerniceMost important research advancement prize honors the experimental work on integrated photonics by Prof. Wolfram Pernice and his team.
We are proud to announce that our member Wolfram Pernice has been awarded the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG). The award honours his groundbreaking pioneering work on neuromorphic photonic computing, a transformative field at the intersection of physics, computer science, and engineering.
Prof Wolfram Pernice heads the research group Neuromorphic Quantum Photonics at Kirchhoff Institute for Physics and is part of STRUCTURES' Comprehensive Project CP 5: Quantum Systems and Neural Networks: Computation in Physical Structures. The goal of his research in the field of integrated photonics is to develop new methods for information processing and rapid computation using light. By developing nanoscale chip systems, his research has far-reaching implications for artificial intelligence and quantum technologies. The DFG underlines that his interdisciplinary research crosses traditional boundaries; it impacts on various disciplines – from natural sciences to computer science to engineering sciences. “His research results point the way to innovative, sustainable methods for reducing energy consumption of AI computer hardware and still enabling rapid calculations. Furthermore, he is known worldwide as a pioneer in the field of integrated quantum photonics,” the German Research Foundation adds.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize – the most important research award in Germany – has been awarded annually by the German Research Foundation since 1986. Up to ten prizes can be awarded each year with prize money of 2.5 million euros each. The awards for 2025 go to four female and six male researchers, including Wolfram Pernice. An award also goes to mathematician Prof. Angkana Rüland, a former member of STRUCTURES who did research on applied mathematics at Heidelberg University from 2020 to 2023. The purpose of the Leibniz Programme, established in 1985, is to honor outstanding scientists, to expand their research opportunities and facilitate employment of particularly qualified early-career researchers. The award ceremony takes place on 19 March 2025 in Berlin.
Further information:
Heidelberg Researchers to Explore Universe’s Mysteries: GeoGrav’s Model-Independent Approach to Cosmology Funded by DFG
For his research project “Cosmological Geometry and Gravity with Non-linear Physics (GeoGrav),” the German Research Foundation (DFG) has granted Prof. Luca Amendola, professor of physics at the Institute for Theoretical Physics (ITP) in Heidelberg, 340,000 euros for three years. GeoGrav will investigate fundamental questions about the universe’s geometry and gravity.
Cosmology has seen a tremendous development in recent years, driven by high-quality data from the cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure, and distance indicators. Nevertheless, several fundamental questions about our Universe are still open: What are the properties of dark energy? Is the Universe spatially flat? Is gravity Einsteinian at all scales and epochs? Often these questions are addressed within restricted classes of models, e.g. simple extensions of ΛCDM with inflationary initial conditions. In this case, the results will unavoidably depend on the model assumption. In a recent series of papers, Luca Amendola and colleagues have shown how to reach accurate and precise cosmological conclusions regardless of assumptions about the evolution of the background, the initial conditions, the linear perturbations, and the bias functions. To achieve this, they combined non-linear correlators with distance indicators (supernovae Ia or standard sirens) as additional tracers of large-scale structure. Their new project aims at the next logical step: applying this methodology to the real data that will soon be provided by Euclid and other surveys. The ultimate goal of GeoGrav is to measure geometry and gravity at cosmological scales in a way that is both precise (high statistical significance) and accurate (weakly dependent on cosmological assumptions).
Luca Amendola is professor of physics at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. His area of research is Cosmology and Astrophysics, with a particular focus on topics related to Dark Energy, Large Scale Structure, Cosmic Microwave Background and Statistics. He is a member of the Euclid collaboration and joined the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence in 2024.
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Since 2018, the German Physical Society’s (DPG) working group on equal opportunities has been at the forefront of the “Physikerin der Woche” initiative, which features an inspiring female physicist and her research area every week. The initiative, showcased on the DPG website as well as on the “Physikerinnen” and “DPG” social media channels, highlights both physicists based in Germany and German scientists working abroad. By presenting diverse career paths and achievements, it challenges traditional gender stereotypes, promotes a more inclusive image of physics, and reinforces that a career in this field is accessible and promising for women at every stage.
We are delighted to announce that this week's featured physicist is Friederike Ihssen, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Heidelberg within the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence. Her research focuses on the description of emergent macroscopic phenomena and phase transitions in quantum field theory, such as the process of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking in the theory of strong interactions, which is known to generate over 99% of mass in nucleons.
'The whole is greater than the sum of the parts' certainly holds true in strongly correlated systems: Here, microscopic constituents, for example quarks, form macroscopic structures, such as pions and nucleons, whose properties are not only defined by the quantum numbers of its parts, but also by fluctuation physics. These systems are often not accessible using standard perturbative calculations. In her work, Friederike develops the conceptional mathematical and numerical tools to perform non-perturbative calculations in quantum field theory. Her focus lies in particular on the functional renormalization group, which allows to quantify the behaviour of theories with changing scales.
Further information:
We are delighted to celebrate International Women's Day with a special screening of the French film "Marguerite's Theorem" on Saturday, 8 March 2025. The programme will feature a champagne reception, the film screening, and a post-screening discussion with invited guests. This event is jointly organized by the Collaborative Research Centre 1225 ISOQUANT and the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence.
About the Film:
Marguerite’s Theorem follows the story of brilliant mathematics student, Marguerite, who faces a setback when a mistake in her dissertation jeopardizes her future plans at France’s top university, École Normale Supérieure. Her doctoral advisor turns away from her to mentor a young man instead. Disheartened, Marguerite abandons her academic life and tries to build a new future outside the world of academia.
Event Details:
- Date: Saturday, 8 March 2025
- Venue: Kamera Kino Heidelberg. Brückenstraße 26, 69120 Heidelberg
- Schedule:
- 10:30 AM – Arrival and Champagne Reception
- 11:00 AM – Screening of Marguerite’s Theorem (French with English subtitles)
- 01:00 PM – Post-screening discussion with invited guests
Tickets & Registration:
Tickets are free of charge for all students and employees of the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy & Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. Places are limited, and allocation will be on a first-come, first-served basis.
Prior registration is required! Please register here.
Further information:
STRUCTURES member Dominika Wylezalek has been appointed as a new Professor for Extragalactic Astrophysics at the Center for Astronomy at Heidelberg University (ZAH) – one of the participating institutions in STRUCTURES – and Director at the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut (ARI), effective March 1, 2025. She will lead the research group “Galaxy Evolution and AGN (GALENA)” at ARI, focusing on the interplay between supermassive black holes and galaxy evolution.
Prof. Dr. Wylezalek's research employs multi-wavelength observations from leading ground- and space-based telescopes to investigate how supermassive black holes influence their host galaxies across different cosmic epochs. In her research, Prof. Wylezalek deals with the physical processes that influence the formation and evolution of galaxies. Using spectroscopic measurements, she studies how active galactic nuclei – that is, galactic cores (quasars) fed by supermassive black holes – impact on the development of their host galaxies and their galactic environment. She has already been able to show that the energy pumped into the environment from these black holes has a strong influence on the formation of stars and hence on the present form of galaxies. Using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) she discovered a galaxy cluster with a large number of massive galaxies emerging around an extremely red quasar. It stems from the cosmological epoch of very active star formation about ten billion years ago. Wylezalek’s observations help us to understand how galaxies in the early universe melted into the cosmic web we see today.
Dominika Wylezalek studied physics at Heidelberg University (Bachelor) and University of Cambridge (Master). In 2014 she earned her doctorate from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) as a fellow of the International Max Planck Research School on Astrophysics (IMPRS) at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching near Munich. She went on to do postdoctoral research at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore (USA) and at ESO Garching as a research fellow. Since 2020, Dr Wylezalek has led a DFG Emmy Noether junior research group at Heidelberg University. For her contributions to observational astrophysics, the scientist has been honoured with the 2023 MERAC Prize of the European Astronomical Society (EAS), the 2023 Ludwig Biermann Award of the German Astronomical Society (AG) and the 2024 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Further information:
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Petra Schwer has been elected as a STRUCTURES Trust Professor by the Young Researchers Convent (YRC). Since 2024, Petra Schwer has been leading the research group Geometry and Group Theory at Institute for Mathematics (IMa). She joins the current team of Trust Professors consisting of Lavinia Heisenberg (Theoretical Physics), Matthias Bartelmann (Theoretical Physics), and Ullrich Köthe (Scientific Computing), who have been reelected.
Trust Professors play a crucial role in supporting early-career researchers by offering guidance, career advice, and mediation in case of conflicts within research groups or with supervisors. Their goal is to foster a supportive and constructive research environment. Every year, the YRC elects four Trust Professors. The YRC is a subgroup of the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence that connects and represents the early-career researchers of our scientific community, including students and postdocs.
We warmly congratulate Prof. Schwer on her election and thank all our Trust Professors for their commitment to supporting early-career researchers.
Further information:
On Thursday, April 3, 2025, various companies, organizations, and universities across Germany will open their doors for Girls'Day, a nationwide initiative aimed at inspiring girls to explore career paths in IT, craftsmanship, natural sciences, and technology – fields where women are still underrepresented.
Several STRUCTURES members and participating institutions are offering an engaging course programme for the Girls'Day. Below is an overview of the activities hosted at various participating and collaborating institutes:
- Physik hautnah! Mitmachprogramm der Fakultät für Physik & Astronomie (→ Details & Registration, German only)
- Physik-Detektivinnen: Entdecke die Geheimnisse der Welt um dich herum (Klasse 5-6)
- Elektronenmikroskopie - ein Blick in die Welt der Mikro- und Nanopartikel (Klasse 5-6)
- Die Geheimnisse des Lichts (Klasse 6-8)
- Die Welt der kleinsten Teilchen (Klasse 7-8)
- Zucker und Licht (Klasse 7-8)
- Mit Physik den Klimawandel verstehen (ab Klasse 8)
- Programmieren lernen mit Robotern (ab Klasse 8)
- Wie du selbst mit Galaxien die Ausdehnung des Universums messen kannst (ab Klasse 8)
- Neuromorphe Computer - Das Gehirn im Labor nachgebaut (ab Klasse 8)
- Kreativ mit ChatGPT & co. - Interaktiv die neusten KIs verstehen (ab Klasse 8)
- Spurensuche im Wasser. Was uns Isotope über die Umwelt verraten. (ab Klasse 9)
- Es werde Licht! - Ein Blick zum Anfang unseres Universums (ab Klasse 9)
- A dance of stars and black holes (in ENGLISH ONLY, 10th-13th grade)
- Die Musik der Sterne – Ein Tag als Astronomin am HITS: → Details & Registration (German only)
- Mathematik und Muster – Was Omas Tapete und der Gehweg gemeinsam haben (Ein spannender Tag als Mathematikerin an der Uni): → Details & Registration (German only)
The "Physik hautnah!" programme is supported by the SFB 1225 "Isoquant" and the Emmy Noether Research Group "Many-body QCD phenomena in high-energy proton and nuclear collisions" of the German Research Foundation. The Girls' Day events of the MINTmachen! school initiative are supported by the Rotary Club Heidelberg-Schloss in 2025.
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