Chemist receives high distinction for her research into new materials
07.12.2012
Professor Dr. Claudia Felser has been appointed a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). The fellowship represents a major accolade that is awarded for significant contributions to science. Through this appointment, the APS is honoring the German chemist’s professional accomplishments in the field of Heusler compounds. These are new materials that are essential for the development of future technologies, such as spintronics. Claudia Felser has been a professor at the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) since 2003 and in December 2011 was also appointed Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden, where a new building to house the sputter system for her work group is currently being built. She is co-director of the Graduate School of Excellence "Materials Science in Mainz" (MAINZ) and has also been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant of EUR 2.4 million, a form of sponsorship given by the European Research Council to individual excellent researchers.
The APS with its more than 50,000 members worldwide is the second largest scientific society for physics after the German Physics Society (DPG / Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft). The APS was founded in 1899 with the aim of promoting the physical sciences and making them more widely studied. The society awards fellowships to at most 0.5 percent of its total members in any one year, meaning that it has 250 fellows at present. It is considered a great honor to be selected for a fellowship, as those eligible are assessed by a peer review. Scientists who make major contributions to fundamental research or develop important scientific or technological applications are eligible for a fellowship. Professor Dr. Claudia Felser has been awarded her fellowship for "creating and understanding new Heusler materials with spintronic and energy functionalities", as her certificate of appointment states.