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This year the Johann Wempe Prize has been awarded to Prof. Yehuda Hoffman from the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
[Photos of the event] 
Yehuda Hoffman has spent his career investigating the formation and evolution of structures in the Universe. Starting in the 90s, he began deducing the large scale structure in the local Universe from observations of the peculiar velocity of nearby galaxies. His method is the basis for highly complex computational models that simulate the formation of our Milky Way. Such simulations are performed within the international CLUES project (http://www.clues-project.org) at supercomputing centers in Jülich, Munich and Barcelona.
During the award ceremony on 8 November 2010 at 2:00pm, Prof. Dr. Ofer Lahav, Vice-President of the Royal Astronomical Society, Perren Chair of Astronomy and Head of Astrophysics University College London gave a laudatio lecture entitled "Mapping and Measuring the Universe".
Prof. Yehuda Hoffman studied physics and mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at Tel-Aviv University. His PhD thesis was entitled "The Large Scale Structure of the Universe: Luminous vs. Dark Matter". After post-doctoral research positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Los Alamos National Laboratory, in 1988 Yehuda Hoffman returned to Israel and took up a position at the Technion - Israel Institute for Technology, in Haifa. Since 1990 Prof. Dr. Yehuda Hoffman has been permanently based at Racah Institute for Physics of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The Wempe Prize is financed from funds left in the will of
the late
Johann Wempe, the
last director of the former Astrophysical Observatory
Potsdam. It
includes financial support for an extended stay at AIP in
Potsdam for
up to several months It may be awarded to younger scientist
for notable achievements and to distinguished senior scientist
in recognition of their life's work. Former recipients
include Prof. Tom
Abel from Stanford University (2001), Dr. Russel D. Cannon from
the Anglo-Australian Observatory Sydney (2002), Dr. Isabelle
Baraffe
and Prof. Gilles Chabrier from the Ecole Normale Superior de
Lyon
(2004), Dr. Alexander G. Kosovichev from Stanford University
(2005),
Prof. Eva Grebel from the Astronomical Institute of the
University of
Basel (2006), Dr. Ignasi Ribas from the Institute de Ciencies de
l'Espai in Barcelona, Spanien (2007), Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Kenneth
C. Freeman from the Australian National University (2008) and
Dr. Matthias Rempel from High Altitude Observatory Boulder
(2009).
The key topics of the AIP are cosmic magnetic fields and extragalactic
astrophysics. A considerable part of the institute's efforts aim at the
development of research technology in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic
telescopes, and e-science. The AIP is the successor of the Berlin
Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory of Potsdam
founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize
explicitly the research area of astrophysics.
The AIP is a foundation according to civil law and is a member of the
Leibniz Association. The Leibniz Association is a network of 86 independent
research institutes and scientific service facilities, which strive for
scientific solutions for major social challenges.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Matthias Steinmetz
Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam
An der Sternwarte 16
D-14482 Potsdam
(0331) 7499 381
Press contact
Madleen Köppen
Tel. (0331) 7499 469
Fax: (0331) 7499 216
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Yehuda Hoffman from the Racah Institute of Physics receiving
the 2010
Wempe award. From left to right: Prof. Dr. Matthias
Steinmetz (AIP),
Prof. Dr. Yehuda Hoffman (Racah Institute for Physics), Martin
Weibezahn (MWFK), Prof. Dr. Klaus G. Strassmeier (AIP).
Foto: Madleen
Köppen/AIP
Yehuda Hoffman from the Racah Institute of
Physics
receiving the 2010 Wempe award. From left to right: Prof.
Dr. Matthias
Steinmetz (AIP), Prof. Dr. Yehuda Hoffman (Racah Institute for
Physics), Dr. Stefan Gottlöber (AIP), Prof. Dr. Klaus G.
Strassmeier
(AIP). Foto: Madleen Köppen/AIP
[Presse release (in German)]
[Wempe Award nominations]
[About Johann Wempe]
[AIP Homepage]
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