Guest researcher at HZB: Bessel Prize Winner Benjamin Rotenberg

Prof. Benjamin Rotenberg has received a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for 2018 and will be spending time regularly as a guest researcher at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin. Rotenberg is a researcher of the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and heads a research group in Sorbonne Université in Paris. He works in an interdisciplinary area spanning physics and chemistry for modelling transport processes in materials, at interfaces, and in electrolytes.

Rotenberg heads a theory group at the PHENIX laboratory of the (CNRS) and Sorbonne Université in Paris. He has previously worked at research establishments in Amsterdam, Berkeley, Barcelona, and Cambridge. The models developed by him can be applied to many problems, especially to those in the environmental field and energy research.

Currently, Rotenberg is concentrating on processes in complex material systems that are of interest for energy storage and conversion. It was for this reason that Prof. Joe Dzubiella, who heads a theory group at the HZB, nominated him for the Bessel Research Prize. During his time at the HZB-Institute for Solar Fuels, Rotenberg will work closely with colleagues from experimentation groups investigating complex electrolytes and catalysts that facilitate production of hydrogen from sunlight.

About the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize

Nominees for the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Prize must be internationally recognised scientists from abroad who have completed their doctorates no more than 18 years ago. This funding enables them to carry out research of their own choosing in collaboration with colleagues in Germany over a period of up to one year. The prize is endowed with 45,000 euros.

For further information: https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/bessel-award.html