Helmut Dosch

Helmut Dosch, 2013

Helmut Dosch (born July 27, 1955 in Rosenheim ) is a German physicist and head of the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg. His research areas are solid state physics and the use of synchrotron radiation to research surface and interface phenomena. Dosch became internationally known for his pioneering work in the field of phase transitions on surfaces, in particular for his work on the surface melting of ice and critical phenomena at alloy interfaces.

Life

Dosch studied physics at the LMU Munich . After graduating, he carried out research on hydrogen and light gases in metals at the high-flux reactor at the Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble. He received his doctorate in 1984 with this work in Munich. In 1985 he went to Cornell University for two years with a Feodor Lynen Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation . There he carried out the first X-ray examinations on metal surfaces at the synchrotron radiation source CHESS. In Munich between 1987 and 1991 he headed a project group “Phase transitions and critical phenomena on alloy surfaces”. In 1993 he received offers at the Universities of Würzburg and Wuppertal, and from 1994 to 1997 he headed the newly established chair for condensed matter at the Institute for Materials Science at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal . In 1997 he was appointed Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research , and in 1998 he was also appointed professor of solid state physics at the University of Stuttgart . Dosch is a member of various national and international advisory bodies.

Since March 2nd, 2009 he has been chairman of the board of directors of the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY). He is the first solid-state physicist in this role. Before that he was a member of the Scientific Council of DESY and a reviewer in the German Science Council for the TESLA (particle accelerator) project, from which the European X-ray laser European XFEL (Hamburg) later emerged. Since April 1, 2009, Dosch has also been a full professor at the University of Hamburg .

Dosch is married and has four children.

Awards

Dosch received several awards for his groundbreaking research, including a. the X-ray plaque of the city of Remscheid and the honorary doctorate from the Kurchatov Institute in Moscow. In 2020 Helmut Dosch was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in the Physics section .