Werner Hofmann (born November 11, 1952, in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

) is a German professor of

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

. He is director of the

Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik ("MPI for Nuclear Physics" or MPIK for short) is a research institute in Heidelberg, Germany. The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Society), an independent, ...

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Life and work

Hofmann studied physics at the

University of Karlsruhe The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT; ) is both a German public university, public research university in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, and a research center of the Helmholtz Association. KIT was created in 2009 when the University of Ka ...

, completing his studies with a doctorate in 1977. In 1980 he wrote his Habilitationsschrift at the

University of Dortmund TU Dortmund University () is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and master's degree programs. It is situate ...

. In 1981 he received a Heisenberg Scholarship and from 1984 to 1987 he worked as assistant and associate professor at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where he was appointed full professor of physics in 1987. Since 1988 he is director at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg. In 1989 he also received an honorary professorship at the

University of Heidelberg Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (; ), is a public university, public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1386 on instruction of Pope Urban VI, Heidelberg is List ...

. Since 2010, he is a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences. Hofmann's research areas include astroparticle physics, specifically high-energy gamma-ray astrophysics of detectors on the ground; CP violation; physics of heavy quarks; neutrinoless double beta decay; QCD; quark and gluon fragmentation; and physics of jets. He is senior scientist in the

High Energy Stereoscopic System High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) is a system of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs) for the investigation of cosmic gamma rays in the photon energy range of 0.03 to 100 TeV. The acronym was chosen in honour of Vic ...

(H.E.S.S.) experiment in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. According to Geoffrey C. Fox, Hofmann's 1981 monograph ''Jets of Hadrons'' is "thorough" and "well-written".

Awards

In 2010, he received, with the H.E.S.S. team, the Bruno Rossi Prize. In 2015, he was awarded the Marian Smoluchowski Emil Warburg Prize of the Polish Physical Society and the

German Physical Society The German Physical Society (German: , DPG) is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The DPG's membership peaked ...

, as well as the Yodh Prize of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP). In 2016 he received the Stern–Gerlach Medal.

References

External links

CV Werner HofmannPARTICLE PHYSICS AND HIGH-ENERGY ASTROPHYSICSMax-Planck-Gesellschaft: Hon.-Prof. Werner Hofmann
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofmann, Werner 1952 births Living people 20th-century German physicists 21st-century German physicists Max Planck Institute directors Recipients of the Yodh Prize