On March 18, 2025, the Emanuel Goldberg Prize 2024 and the Harry Dember Prize 2024 were awarded as part of the 30th Dresden Photonics Colloquium. The awards went to Dr. Rakesh Nair, Maarten Mittmann and Felix Hergenhan for their excellent scientific achievements at the Institute of Applied Physics.

Emanuel Goldberg Prize for Dr. Rakesh Nair

The Emanuel Goldberg Prize, sponsored by the Robert Luther Foundation, was awarded to Dr. Rakesh Nair. The award recognizes his pioneering research in the field of flexible and biodegradable electronics. In his dissertation, he developed the “Leaftronics” technology, an innovative method in which the skeletal structures of natural leaves are used as a substrate for electronic components. These substrates are characterized by a combination of high stability, transparency and flexibility and therefore offer a promising basis for sustainable electronic products.  Dr. Rakesh Nair is currently working with a team on a spin-off that is developing biodegradable printed circuit boards. Overall, his dissertation contained numerous important new findings that open up opportunities for several spin-offs.

Harry Dember Prize for Maarten Mittmann and Felix Hergenhan

 The Harry-Dember-Prize, which is awarded by the “Zentrum für Angewandte Photonik e.V.” association, honors outstanding master's theses. This year, the prize was awarded in equal parts to Maarten Mittmann and Felix Hergenhan.
Maarten Mittmann has invented a new type of infrasound sensor that has outstanding properties and has been registered for a patent. He is currently continuing his research into the new component in his doctoral thesis. He completed his studies with outstanding grades within the standard period of study.
Felix Hergenhan has carried out fundamental investigations into the dynamic behavior of organic photodiodes and found very interesting results that show new operating modes of the detectors. He also completed his studies with very good grades and within the standard period of study.

With these awards, TU Dresden not only recognizes excellent scientific achievements, but also the innovative spirit of its researchers, who contribute to the further development of future-oriented technologies with their work.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, Director of the Excellence Center TUD | excite, gave the laudatory speech for the award winners. Following the award ceremony, Prof. Dr. Martin M. Roth (innoFSPEC Potsdam/ Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam) gave a keynote speech on “New optical detectors for astrophysics”.