Hi, I am an optical engineer and researcher working for the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany.
My current work focuses on instrumentation for large telescopes. I am currently working on astrophotonics and fiber-fed spectrographs.
In my previous position at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, I have been a core member of Reinhard Genzels team (Nobel laureate in physics 2020). I studied the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy and the general relativistic effects on stars in its immideate vicinity. I have also played a leading role in the design, assembly, integration and commissioning of the 2nd generation VLTI instrument GRAVITY, a key instrument for the Galactic Center observations.
Plenary talk at the IAU General Assembly, Vienna 2018
I received two awards for my work on instrumentation:
- MERAC prize – New Technologies 2016 of the European Astronomical Society for the “innovative use of modern technology”.
- Universe PhD award 2013 for the best dissertation, from the Excellence Cluster Universe.
MERAC prize 2016