Physics Colloquium / Inaugural lecture: Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt: The Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf – research for next generations

Event announcement as pdf-Download.

Abstract: The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf e.V. (HZDR) as a multiprogrammatic, interdisciplinary, and internationally active national laboratory and member of the Helmholtz Association will be presented in this lecture. With about 1,500 employees and an annual budget of around €180 million, it is the largest legally independent research centre in Eastern Germany, with research sites in five locations in Germany and one location in France. HZDR conducts application-oriented basic research with a claim to scientific excellence and topics of strategic relevance with impact on science and society. Our scientific focus is on the Helmholtz Research Fields “Matter”, “Health”, and “Energy” as well as on synergies between these three fields. HZDR conducts cutting-edge research and develops innovative technologies together with strong national and international partners in order to address the grand challenges of our time and to find unique solutions with a tangible impact on science, society, and the economy. Our research is supported by sophisticated research infrastructures. We design, build, and operate unique large-scale facilities and support many hundreds of users from Europe and around the world every year. This is an important part of the mission of the Helmholtz Association and an integral part of HZDR’s history and future strategy.

Short bio: Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. mult. Sebastian M. Schmidt, born in 1967, grew up in Greifswald and started his scientific career at the University of Rostock and at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. He completed his doctorate in theoretical physics in Rostock in 1995. After a scholarship at Tel Aviv University and as a fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at Argonne National Laboratory (USA), he took over the leadership of an Emmy Noether junior research group sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG), at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in 2000. In 2001, he completed his habilitation at the Universities of Tübingen and Rostock. From 2002 to 2006, Sebastian M. Schmidt was first a staff member, then managing director of the Helmholtz Association's office in Berlin. From 2007 to 2020, he served as a member of the Board of Directors at the Forschungszentrum Jülich for the areas of matter and information. Since 2012 he holds a professorship for physics at RWTH Aachen University. As of October 2023, Sebastian M. Schmidt was elected to the National Academy of Science and Engineering - acatech. Since July 2024 he holds a full Professorship for “Quantenstatistics” at the TU Dresden. Prof. Sebastian M. Schmidt has been Scientific Director at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf since April 1, 2020.