Grant of the Max Planck Research award 2000 in Berlin

With foreign partners to the top

Max Planck Society and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grant the Max Planck Research Award to twelve scientists / gala ceremony in Berlin

On November 29th 2000 the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are granting the Max Planck Research Award for the year 2000 to four scientists working abroad and eight scientists working in Germany. The Max Planck Research Awards for outstanding scientific achievements will be conferred at a special gala ceremony in the Harnack-Haus in Berlin-Dahlem, where Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Frühwald, President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Dr. Uwe Thomas, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Research are going to give speeches. The festive lecture entitled "Solar System Dynamics and Space Mission Design" will be delivered by one of the four foreign award winners, Prof. Jerrold E. Marsden, Professor of Control and Dynamical Systems, California University of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena/USA.

This is the 11th time when the "Max Planck Research Award for International Cooperation" will be awarded to foreign and German scientists for outstanding achievements that have gained international reputation. The prize, which amounts to up to DM 250 000, should enable German award winners to be more flexible in the initiation, intensification or extension of research cooperation with partners from outside Germany. This year the prize goes to twelve award winners from five different disciplines. The foreign award winners, on their part, are given the opportunity to set up the grounds for collaboration with German partners. The long-term intensified collaboration facilitated in this way should lead to new internationally recognized top-quality scientific achievements. More specifically, the prize is used to finance short-term visits, joint conferences or workshops, as well as additionally needed funds for research expenses and supporting personnel. The Ministry of Education and Research provides the funds for this program, which has been running since 1990, to the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Among 64 nominations this year, the Selection Committee decided on the following prize-winning individuals and projects:

In the year 2000 four scientists receive the Max Planck Research Award for Biological Sciences and Medicine:

Professor George J. Augustine, Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina/USA, for fundamental publications on the transmission of signals between nerve cells.

Professor Wolfgang Baumeister, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried by Munich, for the development of a new research method by means of which he has defined the structure of important "molecular machines" in the cell.

Professor Herta Flor, Head of the Department of Neuropsychology at the University of Heidelberg, Central Institute for Mental Health, Mannheim, in recognition of her publications on the causes of chronic pain.

Professor Michael Frotscher, Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Institute of Anatomy, for his research work on disturbances in the development of the brain.

Professor Bruce Ernest Kemp, University of Melbourne, St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, Fitzroy/Australia, in recognition of his contribution to a better understanding of signals transmission within living cells.

The Max Planck Research Award for Chemistry in the year 2000 goes to

Professor Dieter Enders, Rhine-Westphalian Technical University of Aachen, Institute of Organic Chemistry, for his contributions to a highly efficient synthesis of natural and active substances.

The Max Planck Research Award for the Humanities has been granted to two scientists:

Professor Werner Eck, University of Cologne, Institute of Ancient History, for pioneering insights in the history of the Roman Empire.

Professor Albrecht Wezler, University of Hamburg, Institute of Culture and History of India and Tibet, for his publications on the Indian philosophy, the indigenous Indian grammar and the Hindu law.

The Max Planck Research Award for Physics is received by

Professor Simon D. M. White, Max Planck Institute of Astrophysics, Garching by Munich, for fundamental discoveries on the formation and development of galaxies and the distribution of matter in the universe.

Professor Peter Wölfle, University of Karlsruhe, Institute of Condensed Matter Theory, for pioneering work in the field of solid state physics and in the description of new types of quantum phenomena like superfluidity, supraconductivity or the Quantum-Hall-Effect.

The Max Planck Research Award for Mathematics and Informatics goes to

Professor Stephen S. Kudla, University of Maryland, Department of Mathematics, College Park/USA, for his discoveries in the field of numbers theory and its interaction with the algebraic geometry and the theory of automorphous forms.

Professor Jerrold E. Marsden, California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Division of Engineering & Applied Science, Pasadena/USA, for fundamental contributions that bridge some gaps among various fields of mathematics and reach beyond to physics and mechanics.

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Backgroud information: The Max Planck Research Award for International Cooperation.

For queries:
Dr. Andreas Trepte
Telephone: 89-21-08-12 38
E-mail: trepte@mpg-gv.mpg.de

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