[meteorite-list] Leibniz Prize Winners 2007 Announced

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 12:27:43 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <200612182027.MAA02306_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59035

Leibniz Prize Winners 2007 Announced
Medical News Today
December 18, 2006

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG)
has announced the winners of its 2007 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize.
At its meeting, the DFG Joint Committee named ten scientists and
academics - eight men and two women - as recipients of Germany's most
highly endowed research award. For the first time, the prize winners for
2007 will receive up to 2.5 million euros (previously: 1.55 million
euros) and be able to use these funds flexibly over a period of seven
years (previously: five years) to finance their research.

The Leibniz Programme, established in 1985, aims to improve the working
conditions of outstanding researchers, expand their research
opportunities, relieve them of administrative duties, and make it easier
for them to employ particularly qualified young researchers. Scientists
and academics from any research area can be nominated for the prize. The
DFG Nominations Committee considers the slate of candidates and selects
researchers who can be expected to particularly advance their scientific
achievements through this award. This year's prize winners once again
include several young researchers.

This announcement brings the total number of prizes awarded under the
Leibniz Programme to 249. Of these, 54 recipients have been from the
humanities, 70 from the life sciences, 89 from the natural sciences, and
36 from engineering. A total of 25 awards have gone to women.

Of 129 nominations received for the 2007 prize, the following ten
researchers were selected:

[snip]

Prof. Dr. Falko Langenhorst (42), Mineralogy and Petrology, Institute of
Geosciences, University of Jena (2.5 million euros)

Falko Langenhorst looks at the impacts of celestial bodies colliding
with Earth, as well as with other planets and moons, which have played a
major role in the evolution of our planet and the solar system. He
focuses especially on the basic physics and chemistry of impact
processes and their effects on the biosphere ("astromineralogy"). Falko
Langenhorst was the first to detect high-pressure minerals in the
Martian meteorite Zagami, which itself had been ejected from the surface
of Mars by a meteorite and flung all the way to Earth. For the impact
event that produced this Martian meteorite, Langenhorst has been able to
determine pressures of about 300,000 bars and temperatures of 2,400 to
2,500 degrees Celsius. He also received great international attention
for his research on the crystal chemistry of perovskite, a main
component of Earth's lower mantle.

Falko Langenhorst studied mineralogy in Gie??en and M??nster, where he got
his PhD in 1993 before he went to Lille as a postdoc. Since 2004 he has
held the chair for general and applied mineralogy in Jena. His high
international reputation is reflected in numerous honours, such as his
membership in the Academia Europaea and a fellowship from the Japanese
Society for the Promotion of Science.

[snip]
Received on Mon 18 Dec 2006 03:27:43 PM PST