25.01.2011

Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize for Volker Schomerus

Professor Volker Schomerus, head of the DESY theory department was awarded the Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize. 

The French research minister Valérie Pécresse announced the nomination on 22 January in Paris on occasion of the anniversary of the Franco-German Elysée Treaty.

Volker Schomerus, who receives the prize together with four German and four French academics, is head of the DESY Theory Group and works mainly in the field of string theory. The 45 years old was nominated by the CEA Institute Saclay for the award worth 25 000 Euros, to highlight his commitment in Franco-German collaboration at the so called scale invariant sigma models. This is a so far unexplored category of theories that is fundamentally relevant for both, the solution of basic particle physics problems and the description of subordinate systems.

Since 1983, the French ministry of research annually presents the Gay-Lussac Humboldt Prize to five internationally renowned German scientists who were proposed by French research partners and who coined and promoted Franco-German scientific collaboration. Simultaneously, four French scientists were nominated by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; funding 60 000 Euros for a one-year research sojourn in Germany.