Emil Warburg Prizes 2023 awarded
Frank Schirmer and Dr Sophie Hermann have received the 2023 Emil Warburg Foundation Awards.
Wolfgang Hetz (Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Warburg Foundation), Frank Schirmer, Dr. Sophie Hermann, Prof. Dr. Meschede (keynote speech) and Walter Zimmermann (organiser) (from left)
The Emil Warburg Technology Prize 2023 went to Frank Schirmer. Schirmer is a technician for Prof Dr Anna Köhler (Professor of Experimental Physics II) and Prof Dr Eva Herzig (Professor of Experimental Physics VII). He joined Prof Köhler's department in 2012. "He is indispensable here today with his technical expertise, prudence, problem-solving skills and persevering commitment," the laudation reads. It is in the nature of research that experimental set-ups have to be redesigned or rebuilt to address new issues. Schirmer's advice on technical feasibility is very much in demand when designing new experiments or modifying existing ones.
The Emil Warburg Research Prize 2023 went to Dr Sophie Hermann. She completed her doctorate in theoretical physics under Prof Dr Matthias Schmidt. The topic of her thesis is "Forces and symmetries in the statistical mechanics of active and thermal many-body systems". "In her doctoral thesis, Dr Hermann deals with an impressively broad range of current topics in statistical mechanics," reads the award citation. "This ranges from very fundamental questions on the consequences of symmetries for the behaviour of many-body systems to the current focus on active Brownian particles." The reviewers considered Dr Hermann's dissertation "an extremely strong and original scientific achievement" and some of the "results have the potential to one day be included in textbooks on statistical physics".
Following the award ceremony, Prof Dr Dieter Meschede gave a lecture on the topic "What is quantum?"