Ernst Eckhardt Koch Ceremony: Marcus Bär, Enggar Pramanto Wibowo and Franziska Emmerling (from left to right).
© HZB / Kevin Fuchs
Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize and Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025
Enggar Pramanto Wibowo during his presentation.
© HZB / Kevin Fuchs
Franziska Emmerling (BAM), Chair of the Friends of Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin e.V.
© HZB / Kevin Fuchs
The laudatory speech for the Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025 was given by Christian Schroer, Scientific Director of PETRA III (DESY).
© HZB / Kevin Fuchs
The Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025 went to Tim Salditt as well as Danny D. Jonigk and Maximilian Ackermann (from left to right). Christian Schroer and Franziska Emmerling stood around the prizewinners.
© HZB / Kevin Fuchs
At the 27th BESSY@HZB User Meeting, the Friends of HZB honoured the dissertation of Dr Enggar Pramanto Wibowo (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg). The Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025 went to Prof. Tim Salditt (Georg-August-University Göttingen) and Professors Danny D. Jonigk and Maximilian Ackermann (both, University Hospital of RWTH Aachen University).
The Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize 2025 honours outstanding doctoral theses in the field of synchrotron radiation research carried out at HZB or DESY. The award is named after the former scientific director of the BESSY GmbH, Ernst Eckhard Koch, who died in 1988.
This year, the Ernst Eckhard Koch Prize went to Dr Enggar Pramanto Wibowo from (Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg). In his dissertation, which was mainly carried out at HZB and at BESSY II, he deals with phosphorus chemistry in high-temperature PEM fuel cells. In doing so, he combines the further development of sophisticated in-situ/operando synchrotron methods with important contributions to the durability of fuel cells in the hydrogen economy.
The dissertation Elucidating the Complex Oxidation Behaviour of Phosphorus Impurities at the Pt|Aqueous H3PO3Interface in HT-PEMFCs by a Combination of X-ray Spectroscopies was proposed by Dr Raul Garcia-Diez and Prof. Dr Marcus Bär (Interface Design Department at HZB). The award committee emphasised: "An outstanding contribution to synchrotron radiation science, fully aligning with the spirit of this award. We especially wish to emphasise how Dr. Wibowo expanded the experimental capabilities of soft/tender X-ray synchrotron endstations to allow in situ/operando experiments under the harsh electrocatalytical conditions found in real-world fuel cells, while also expanding the understanding of phosphorous-focused X-ray spectroscopies."
Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation
The Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation 2025 went to Prof. Tim Salditt (Georg-August-University Göttingen) and Professors Danny D. Jonigk and Maximilian Ackermann (both University Hospital of RWTH Aachen University). The laudatory speech was given by Prof. Christian Schroer, Scientific Director of PETRA III (DESY).
They are being honoured for the development and application of histological tomography, a novel, high-resolution 3D X-ray imaging technique for tissues based on phase contrast. This method allows complex tissue architectures to be visualised non-destructively and in unprecedented detail.
The team has made decisive advances in this method and transferred it in a unique way to biomedical research, in particular to elucidate acute, subacute and late tissue damage in the lungs and heart in COVID-19.
The work exemplifies the bridge between modern X-ray optics, innovative reconstruction algorithms and clinically relevant questions. It opens up new diagnostic and pathophysiological insights into inflammatory, vascular and oncological diseases.
- What Zinc concentration in teeth revealsTeeth are composites of mineral and protein, with a bulk of bony dentin that is highly porous. This structure is allows teeth to be both strong and sensitive. Besides calcium and phosphate, teeth contain trace elements such as zinc. Using complementary microscopy imaging techniques, a team from Charité Berlin, TU Berlin and HZB has quantified the distribution of natural zinc along and across teeth in 3 dimensions. The team found that, as porosity in dentine increases towards the pulp, zinc concentration increases 5~10 fold. These results help to understand the influence of widely-used zinc-containing biomaterials (e.g. filling) and could inspire improvements in dental medicine.
- Fascinating archaeological find becomes a source of knowledgeThe Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Historical Monuments (BLfD) has sent a rare artefact from the Middle Bronze Age to Berlin for examination using cutting-edge, non-destructive methods. It is a 3,400-year-old bronze sword, unearthed during archaeological excavations in Nördlingen, Swabia, in 2023. Experts have been able to determine how the hilt and blade are connected, as well as how the rare and well-preserved decorations on the pommel were made. This has provided valuable insight into the craft techniques employed in southern Germany during the Bronze Age. The BLfD used 3D computed tomography and X-ray diffraction to analyse internal stresses at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), as well as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy at a BESSY II beamline supervised by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM).
- Element cobalt exhibits surprising propertiesThe element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic structure. Spin-resolved measurements of the band structure (spin-ARPES) at BESSY II revealed entangled energy bands that cross each other along extended paths in specific crystallographic directions, even at room temperature. As a result, cobalt can be considered as a highly tunable and unexpectedly rich topological platform, opening new perspectives for exploiting magnetic topological states in future information technologies.