Ernst Ising Dissertations Award of the Department of Physics
The Ernst Ising Dissertation Prize awards outstanding dissertations from the Physics Department at the University of Cologne. The prize is donated by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation.
The Ernst Ising Dissertation Award is endowed with € 4,000 and is awarded once a year. Completed doctoral theses that have not been completed for more than 12 months have been assessed. All professors and lecturers with the right to award doctorates belonging to the Physics Department of the University of Cologne are entitled to make proposals. The deadline for nominating suitable candidates is October 31 of each year. Required documents are a letter of nomination by the supervisor, the candidate's dissertation, and, if applicable, publications. The complete price statute can be viewed in the Bonn-Cologne Graduate School office.
The selection committee used by the Physics Department currently consists of the Speaker of the Department, the Spokesperson of BCGS Cologne, and Prof. Andreas Zilges as representatives of the Physics Department as well as the Coordinator of the CGSC, Prof. Boris Braun (member of a different Department), and Prof. Carsten Urbach (University of Bonn, external member). The award ceremony takes place within the framework of the General Physics Colloquium of the Physics Department.
We thank the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation and the family of Ernst Ising. We are very happy to be able to name the award after Ernst Ising.
Award winners
2019
The Ernst Ising Dissertation Award of the year 2019 is awarded to Mr. Finn Lasse Büßen and Mr. Rolf Baldwin Versteeg in equal shares. The focus of Mr. Büßen's dissertation is A Functional Renormalization Group Perspective on Quantum Spin Liquids in Three-Dimensional Frustrated Magnets, while Mr. Versteeg's dissertation is concerned with Optically probed order and dynamics in the chiral cluster magnet Cu2OSeO3.
2021
For the year 2021, the Ernst Ising Dissertation Award is awarded to Mr. Leonardo Chataignier for his dissertation Timeless Quantum Mechanics and the Early Universe.
2022
The Ernst Ising Dissertation Prize for 2022 is awarded in equal shares to Ms Phila Rembold and Ms Nina del Ser. Ms Rembold's dissertation is focused on Quantum Optimal Control of Spin Systems and Trapped Atoms while Ms del Sers dissertation is titled The Turn of the Screw and the Slide of the Skyrmion.
2024
The Ernst Ising Dissertation Award of the year 2024 is awarded to Mr. Camiel van Efferen for his thesis Growth, phases and correlation effects of single-layer MoS2 and VS2.
Namesake of the Dissertation Award: Ernst Ising
The name patron of the Award is Ernst Ising (1900-1998), who was born in Cologne and founded the central model of statistical physics and solid state physics in his dissertation. He lost his teaching position under the National Socialists and finally emigrated with his family to the USA.