Prize Recipient

Friedrich K. Thielemann
University of Basel

Citation:

"For his many outstanding theoretical contributions to the understanding of nucleosynthesis, stellar evolution and stellar explosions through applications to individual objects and to cosmic chemical evolution."

Background:

Friedrich-Karl (Friedel) Thielemann, studied theoretical physics at the Technical University of Darmstadt (TUD, diploma in 1976), and received his Ph.D. for nuclear reaction rate studies and their astrophysical application in explosive burning as a student of W. Hillebrandt and E.R. Hilf (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching and TUD) in 1980. He held postdoctoral positions at the University of Chicago (with D.N. Schramm and W.D. Arnett), the California Institute of Technology (with Willy Fowler), the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (with H.V. Klapdor), the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (with W. Hillebrandt) and the University of Illinois (with J.W. Truran). In 1986 he joined the faculty of Harvard University (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Harvard Observatory) and in 1994 accepted a full professorship at the University of Basel. His research covers theoretical and computational astrophysics as well as the subatomic processes that enter the modeling of hot and dense astrophysical plasmas. Thielemann is member of professional societies in physics and astronomy and has been a Fellow of the American Physical Society since 1998.

Selection Committee:

Robert Tribble (Chair), D. Hartmann, J.R. Wilson, R. Diehl, D. Geesaman