Honorary doctorate for DESY research director

29 April 2024

Photo: UZH

Now Dr.h.c. of the University of Zurich: Beate Heinemann, Michal Gal, Iris Bohnet, Douglas Bernheim, Polly Taylor and Oded Lipschits with UZH Rector Michael Schaepman in the centre.

Beate Heinemann, DESY Director in charge of Particle Physics and Principal Investigator in Quantum Universe, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich. The Swiss university honored her “for her outstanding scientific achievements in experimental elementary particle physics, for her pioneering role in the search for new particles and phenomena and for her associated contributions to the planning of future particle accelerators.”

In addition to Heinemann, six other people received an honorary doctorate at the University’s “Dies Academicus.” Each year, the university's seven faculties nominate a person from their respective field who has made a special impact with their research or lifetime achievement.  The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences covers all natural sciences, from chemistry and molecular biology to astrophysics. An honorary doctorate in the field of physics therefore only occurs every few years. Other researchers honoured with the Dr. h.c. include, for example, primate researcher Jane Goodall. 

Beate Heinemann is thrilled to receive the award: “I feel very honoured by the honorary doctorate. The University of Zurich plays a major role in physics, and not just historically – it was here, after all, that Erwin Schrödinger developed his famous equation, which is one of the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics; Albert Einstein was a professor here, and Max von Laue, who is particularly important for DESY's research area of photon science, also did the work that earned him the Nobel Prize at UZH. The university has maintained its pioneering role to this day with a diverse research programme and excellent staff.”

“Working on ATLAS, she is a direct competitor to the UZH groups on the CMS experiment,” explains Thomas Gehrmann, Head of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Zurich. “We nevertheless enjoy a very fruitful and constructive exchange of ideas, both in experiment and theory, and work closely together with her on the European Strategy Update process.”