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.
- BESSY II: High-resolution insights into individual biomolecules and catalystsVery small biological samples and even individual biomolecules can now be examined under near-physiological conditions with high confidence at the BESSY II infrared beamline with a newly validated and improved technique: The nanoscale infrared spectroscopy (s-SNOM) with ultra-thin silicon-based membranes. An international team demonstrated after an initial proof of concept, that high-resolution (a few tens of nanometres) nano-IR measurements reliably match expected far-field IR spectra in an aqueous environment. This methodological advance provides a solid foundation for studying biomaterials or observing catalytic processes in a liquid environment.
- New method shows how molecular switches are influenced by their neighborsResearchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Helmholtz Centre Berlin (HZB) have, for the first time, been able to directly observe how the environment surrounding a molecular switch influences its electronic structure. Molecular switches are molecules that can be switched between two states by external influences such as changes in temperature—similar to a switch with the positions »On« and »Off«. Such molecules are being investigated as potential building blocks for future data storage devices or sensor materials. Using magnetic-field-dependent terahertz spectroscopy, the researchers have now, for the first time, been able to distinguish whether neighbouring molecules in a material are in the same or different states. The results have been published in the journal »Angewandte Chemie International Edition«.
- SEAlab accelerator project completed: Achievements and outlookThe SEAlab accelerator project successfully completed its final measurement campaign in summer 2026. The facility is now being dismantled, with many components set to be reused. The two accelerator physicists, Axel Neumann and Thorsten Kamps, explain what the project has achieved and provide an outlook for the future.