Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize 2010
The winners of Germany's most prestigious research prize have been officially announced. At its meeting in Bonn today, the Joint Committee of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) named ten researchers, four women and six men, as the winners of the 2011 Leibniz Prize. The award winners were selected by the Nominations Committee from among 152 nominees, and will each receive € 2.5 million in prize money. Of the ten Leibniz Prizes awarded this year, four were awarded in the life sciences, three in the natural sciences, two in the engineering sciences, and one in the humanities and social sciences.
- Prof. Dr. Jan Bor
- Prof. Dr. Peter Fratz
- Prof. Dr. Roman Inders
- Prof. Dr. Christoph Klei
- Prof. Dr. Ulman Lindenberge
- Prof. Dr. Frank Nees
- Prof. Dr. Jürgen Osterhamme
- Prof. Dr. Petra Schwill
- Prof. Dr. Stefan Treu
- Prof. Dr. Joachim Weicker
Prof. Dr. Jan Born, Neuroendocrinology/Sleep Research
Jan Born receives the Leibniz Prize for his pioneering work in the area of sleep research. The primary focus of his research is how memory is formed during sleep. He was able to demonstrate not only the stabilisation of memory during sleep, but also the occurrence of cognitive processes such as problem solving strategies. He was thereby the first researcher to conclusively demonstrate a causal connection between sleep and learning. In his investigations of the individual phases of sleep, Born paid special attention to the Rapid Eye Movement-Phase (REM), about which it was previously supposed that it has a positive effect on the procedural memory. Born managed to refute this assumption in a widely respected experimental study, in which he used medication to suppress the REM phase. Finally, Born examined memory formation through sleep in other organic systems, such as the metabolic system and the immune system. His work has made important contributions to basic research. However, it also takes up important medical questions and is of great interest from the point of view of health policy. It is also highly relevant to research on learning.
After studying experimental psychology and completing his doctoral degree in Tübingen, Jan Born received the habilitation for psychology in Ulm. Since 2002 he has been Director of the Institute for Neuroendocrinology at the University of Lübeck. Born was the spokesperson for the DFG Research Unit "Memory Formation during Sleep", and since 2005 he has been the spokesperson for the Collaborative Research Centre "Plasticity and Sleep".
Prof. Dr. Peter Fratzl, Biomaterials
Peter Fratzl is a leading international representative of modern biomaterials research. Fratzl deals with a variety of questions relating to natural materials, such as bone or plant tissues, and researches their mechanical properties in particular. For instance, he analyses the relationship between the properties and structures of biological materials and develops new biomimetic and bio-inspired materials, which approximate biological structures and processes. His studies in this field are built on his earlier work in metal physics. Often conducted in cooperation with medical researchers and biologists, his work is a great asset to basic research and also yields findings that are significant to the treatment of diseased bone tissue and especially to osteoporosis. Moreover, it lays the foundations for the development of new and improved biomimetic bone replacement materials and for regenerative hard tissue therapies.
Peter Fratzl obtained his engineering diploma in Paris, completed his doctoral degree in physics in Vienna, and subsequently worked in the United Sates, the United Kingdom and in Germany. Fratzl then held a professorship in Loeben and worked as Director of the Erich Schmid Institute for Materials Science, which belongs to the Austrian Academy of Sciences, before switching to the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam. Fratzl has already received several international awards for his work, and he is an internationally recognised teacher.
Prof. Dr. Roman Inderst, Economics
At just 39 years of age, the economist Roman Inderst is the youngest Leibniz prizewinner in 2010, and his work to date already surpasses the life work of many of his renowned colleagues. Inderst works simultaneously in several branches of economics, to each of which he has made significant contributions. In his earlier studies of "pure theory", he addressed the topic of markets in which individual participants have an information advantage. In the area of industrial economics, he investigated, among other things, the consequences that mergers between intermediate product manufacturers have on the entire market. Finally, his work on the interaction between company financing and company management is highly relevant. All of this work shows Inderst to be one of the most creative representatives of his subject on the national and international stage.
Roman Inderst originally studied business, sociology and economics at the Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences, the University of Hagen and the Humboldt University in Berlin. He received his doctoral degree from the Free University of Berlin, and in 2002 he attained the habilitation for economics in Mannheim. Following several positions outside Germany, including professor at the London School of Economics, he has held the Chair for Finance and Economics since 2006, which was created by the Geld und Währung foundation at the University of Frankfurt am Main.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Klein, Paediatrics/Paediatric Oncology
Christoph Klein combines basic medical research with clinical practice at the highest level, which is still something of rarity in Germany. On the basis of genetic analyses, Klein has identified various genetic defects that trigger severe and often fatal diseases of the immune system. However, Klein does not limit himself to describing these genetic defects and their symptoms, but also tries to decipher the molecular causes. Of particular importance is his discovery that a defect in the glucose 6-phosphatase causes a deficiency or complete absence from birth of neutrophile granulocytes, which belong to the white blood corpuscles. Up to now, the children who suffer from this hereditary disease have had little chance of survival. Klein's work is opening new prospects for therapy, also through somatic gene therapy.
Ulm, Harvard and Munich are the locations where Christoph Klein acquired his academic training, and where, in addition to medicine, he was also a successful student of philosophy. After Paris and Freiburg, his training as a specialist in paediatrics took him to Harvard Medical School. Klein has been working at the MMH since 2000, initially as a senior doctor, section manager and head of a DFG-funded Clinical Research Unit, and today as the holder of a professorship and as Medical Director of the Clinic for Paediatric Haematology/Oncology.
Prof. Dr. Ulman Lindenberger, Developmental Psychology
The developmental psychologist Ulman Lindenberger is one of the world's leading researchers in cognitive gerontology. He has redefined the potential and limits of cognitive aging in an impressive number of studies, in which he successfully combined approaches from neuroscience, gerontology and developmental psychology. Lindenberger was able to prove, for instance, that the mental ability of older people is determined to a large extent by their own behaviour, rather than natural factors such as age, and can therefore be improved. According to his results, perception, thought and memory in old-age are largely dependent on physical, emotional-motivational and social factors. The results of this basic research have been swiftly incorporated into practical programmes and, in view of the current demographic changes, they are of great socio-political importance.
Having completed his degree in Berkeley and Berlin, Ulman Lindenberger received his doctoral degree and habilitation for psychology from the Free University of Berlin. He then held a professorship in Saarbrucken, at the FU Berlin and at the Humboldt University of Berlin, before becoming a director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Thanks to several guest professorships and research visits abroad, Lindenberger also has many international contacts.
Prof. Dr. Frank Neese, Theoretical Chemistry
As one of the world's leading theoretical chemists, Frank Neese is a worthy recipient of the Leibniz Prize. Neese's research mainly combines bioinorganic chemistry and theoretical chemistry and addresses some of the most complex problems in bioinorganic chemistry. In the first place, mention should be made of his description of the electron states of large biologically relevant and extremely complex structured metalloproteins. For this purpose, Neese developed a quantum chemical programme, with which molecular calculations can be carried out 100 times faster than before. The programme also enables an interpretation of spectra, which was until recently considered unthinkable. Neese's programme was quickly taken up around the world, and today has thousands of users in chemistry, biology, pharmacy and materials science.
Frank Neese initially studied biology and received his doctoral degree in Konstanz and he worked in Stanford as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2001, he attained the habilitation for bioinorganic chemistry and theoretical chemistry in Konstanz and later became a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Bioinorganic Chemistry in Mülheim/Ruhr. In 2006, Neese was appointed Chair of Theoretical Chemistry in Bonn, previously held by the Leibniz prizewinner Sigrid Peyerimhoff. Neese has already received several international awards and is considered an outstanding academic mentor who consistently inspires students with enthusiasm for his subject.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Osterhammel, Modern and Recent History
The historian Jürgen Osterhammel has made a decisive contribution to opening the science of history in Germany to world historical topics and problems. With a series of pioneering works on European and world history, Osterhammel is one of the most respected representatives of a new conception of history, which captures contemporary globalisation in all of its political, economic and cultural aspects. Above all, he has highlighted the significance of the relationship between Europe and East Asia for the development of the modern global society. Osterhammel's works succeed brilliantly in linking social, political and structural history with the history of ideas, science and culture - most impressively in his monumental work Die Verwandlung der Welt: Eine Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts (The Transformation of the World: A History of the 19th Century), which also met with great interest outside the world of academia.
After studying in Marburg, Hamburg, Kassel and London, Jürgen Osterhammel received his doctoral degree in Kassel and, following a stint at the German Historical Institute in London, he received his habilitation in Freiburg. Having held professorships at the university in Hagen and Geneva, Osterhammel has held the Chair for Modern and Contemporary History in Konstanz since 1999.
Prof. Dr. Petra Schwille, Biophysics
Petra Schwille's work has considerably advanced both the development of fluorescence spectroscopy and its application to the solution of questions in cellular biology. Ever since she received her doctoral degree, Schwille has been occupied with the development of fluorescence spectroscopic methods, with which the function of individual protein molecules can be characterised. Most significantly, she contributed to the development and optimisation of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS), one of the most elegant, non-invasive methods of recording molecular processes in biological systems. Through a combination of FCS and two-photon excitation, Petra Schwille achieved spectacular insights into cellular mechanisms. In her more recent work, she has tried to establish the FCS method in developmental biology and has already managed to use it in living model organisms such as the zebrafish and the roundworm. Petra Schwille also uses the FCS method to research the interactions between proteins and lipids, for which she has achieved international recognition.
After studying physics and philosophy, Petra Schwille worked with the Nobel Prize recipient Manfred Eigen in Göttingen and received her doctoral degree in Braunschweig. As a postdoctoral researcher she went to Göttingen and to Cornell University. She then returned to Göttingen to the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, where she set up her own independent junior research group. In 2002 she was called to chair Biophysics at the Dresden University of Technology.
Prof. Dr. Stefan Treue, Primate Cognitive Neuroscience
Stefan Treue is being honoured for his work in the field of attention research. The main focus of Treue's research is on the principles of attention control, which are among the basic features of the higher brain functions. In studies which have received worldwide acclaim, he has demonstrated the influence of attention on motion processing and on the perception and processing of sensory stimulants, and shown the extent of this influence. The results of his work have a great influence on many areas of brain research. It was also due to Treue's work that it is now clear that neuronal activities on various levels of the visual system are influenced by attention. He showed that attention phenomena already play an important role during the processing of information in areas of the brain, which it had previously been assumed could not be reached by cognitive processes. Above and beyond neuroscience, these findings are of great interest to neurology, psychiatry and psychology. And in view of the rise in psychogenic attention disorders and other disease-related attention disorders, Treue's work also has considerable relevance beyond basic research in the world of clinical practice.
Stefan Treue studied biology in Frankfurt am Main and Heidelberg before receiving his doctoral degree in the United States at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology. When he returned to Germany he received his habilitation for physiology in Tübingen. Since 2001, Treue has been the Managing Director of the German Primate Centre at the University of Göttingen.
Prof. Dr. Joachim Weickert, Image Processing/Computer Science
Joachim Weickert is one of the world's leading researchers in the field of image analysis and its applications. He is concerned with the development of mathematics-based image analysis processes, which can be realised effectively and efficiently on today's computer systems. The main goal of these is to improve incomplete or noisy image data, so as to reconstruct the original image. For the purpose of denoising badly distorted image data by means of diffusion filtering, Weickert was the first to develop a practice-relevant theory. This has become the basis for numerous techniques now being used in medical imaging, in geoscientific image processing and in computer-supported quality control in industry. Weickert worked well beyond the borders of computer science and mathematics, in close cooperation with engineers and medical researchers. He was thus able to produce highly innovative solutions for information processing problems that affected other fields.
Joachim Weickert received his doctoral degree in mathematics and his habilitation for computer science. After completing postdoctoral research visits to the Netherlands and Denmark, he first worked in Mannheim before accepting the Chair of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Saarland.