Dissertation Award

Department honors graduates who have distinguished themselves through outstanding, original, and independent research contributions with a dissertation award. This award has been presented since 2019 and comes with a cash prize of 4,000 euros, funded by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation. To be eligible for nomination, the early-career researcher must have earned a Ph.D. within the last two years. All faculty members at the University of Department who supervise Ph.D. candidates may submit nominations.

Here you can learn more about past award winners and their work:

Stack of books with diploma and graduation cap

2025 Dissertation Prize for Sophie Aerdker: Transport of Cosmic Radiation

The Department Physics and Astronomy is pleased to announce that the 2025 Dissertation Award, sponsored by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation, has been awarded to Dr. Sophie Aerdker. The astrophysicist has been working in the group...

2024 Dissertation Award for Dr. Timo Schorlepp:

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Timo Schorlepp, Courant Instructor and Assistant Professor at New York University, has received the Department Dissertation Award. In his dissertation, he explored how to...

The 2023 Dissertation Award Goes to Dr. Ancla Müller and Dr. Luca van den Busch

The 2023 Dissertation Award was presented to two recipients: Dr. Ancla Müller and Dr. Jan Luca van den Busch. “Polarized Radio Emission of Cluster Galaxies: A Clue to the Physics of Ram-Pressure Stripping and Its Influence on Galaxy Evolution.” Dr. Ancla...

Dissertation Award 2022: Dr. Meike Küßner could convince

Last year marked the fourth time the Department Physics and Astronomy awarded its dissertation prize. The winner this year is Dr. Meike Küßner. In her dissertation, Meike Küßner examined the creation of matter in collisions...

2021 Dissertation Award for Dr. Katharina Grosse

Temporal Evolution of Nanosecond-Pulsed Plasmas in Water In her doctoral dissertation, Dr. Grosse investigated the complete dynamics of these plasmas—from ignition to afterglow—using time-resolved emission spectroscopy. The results...

All Dissertation Awards