Professor Helmut Dosch will become the new Chair of the Directorate of the Research Centre DESY. Solid-state physicist Helmut Dosch, born in Rosenheim, Bavaria, is at present Director of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart and professor at the University of Stuttgart. On 1 March 2009, he will replace Professor Albrecht Wagner as Chair of the DESY Directorate who has served as DESY Director since 1999.

“DESY is a brand name standing for top research worldwide. With the new accelerator facilities which are currently built in Hamburg, DESY will shed light on so far unexplored dimensions in nanospace and will continue to play a leading role in the international top league of large-scale research,” explains Helmut Dosch. “Particularly, we will further strengthen the collaboration with CERN and the University of Hamburg and create a magnet for junior scientists.”

Albrecht Wagner, present Chair of the Directorate: “I am very pleased to be able to welcome Helmut Dosch – an outstanding scientist and experienced leader – as my successor. With him at the helm, DESY will be well prepared for future challenges.”

Professor Helmut Dosch, born in 1955, obtained his doctorate and habilitated at Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich. He worked as a scientist at the Institute Laue-Langevin (Grenoble), Cornell University (New York) and at the universities of Mainz and Wuppertal before becoming director of the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and at the same time chair for Experimental Solid State Physics at Stuttgart University. Dosch is internationally renowned for the research of solid-state interfaces and nanomaterials with synchrotron radiation.

Research with large-scale facilities has accompanied Helmut Dosch throughout his research career. He serves on several international committees, reviewed journals and research organisations. He counselled the DESY Directorate as a member of the DESY Scientific Council, and, as member of the German Council of Science and Humanities, he evaluated the TESLA/XFEL project which later developed into the European X-ray laser project XFEL and the International Linear Collider ILC. Currently he is Vice-Chair of the Administrative Council of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility ESRF in Grenoble.

The curriculum vitae of Professor Helmut Dosch is available on request.

DESY is one of the world´s leading centres for the investigation of the structure of matter. DESY develops, runs and uses accelerators and detectors for photon science and particle physics.