Friedrich-Karl "Friedel“ Thielemann (born 17 April 1951 in
Mülheim an der Ruhr) is a German-Swiss theoretical astrophysicist.
Thielemann studied at the
TH Darmstadt, where he in 1976 he acquired his
Diplom. In 1980 he earned his PhD under Wolfgang Hillebrandt (in Garching) and E. R. Hilf in nuclear astrophysics. As a post-doc he was with
David Schramm and
William David Arnett
William David Arnett (born 1940) is a Regents Professor of Astrophysics at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, known for his research on supernova explosions, the formation of neutron stars or black holes by gravitational collapse, and ...
at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
,
William A. Fowler
William Alfred Fowler ( ) was an American nuclear physicist, later astrophysicist, who, with Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics. He is known for his theoretical and experimental research into nuclear reactions wit ...
at
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, Hans Klapdor at the
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik
The Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik ("MPI for Nuclear Physics" or MPIK for short) is a
research institute in Heidelberg, Germany.
The institute is one of the 80 institutes of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Max Planck Society), an independent, n ...
, am
Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik in Garching (with Hillebrandt) and at the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
(with
James W. Truran
James Wellington Truran Jr. (born July 12, 1940, Brewster, New York – March 5, 2022) was an American physicist, known for his research in nuclear astrophysics.
Biography
Truran graduated in 1961 with a bachelor's degree from Cornell University. ...
). Starting in 1986 he was Assistant Professor and from 1991 Associate Professor at the
Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian and at the Harvard Observatory of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. In 1994 he became a professor at the
University of Basel
The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...
. In 1995 he was a guest professor at the
University of Turin
The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...
and from 1997 to 2001 a guest scientist at
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a U.S. multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and administered, managed, and operated by UT–Battelle as a federally funded research an ...
.
Besides theoretical and computer-simulated astrophysics and nuclear astrophysics (including important nuclear reactions and properties of unstable stellar cores, equations of state of quark-matter and core matter of higher density), he worked on the modeling of astrophysical plasmas for important subatomic processes. He investigated, among other things, supernovae, X-ray bursts, gamma ray bursts, fusion of neutron stars, emergence of heavy elements, and evolution of chemical elements in galaxies.
In 1979 he received the
Otto Hahn Medal
The Otto Hahn Medal (german: Otto-Hahn-Medaille) is awarded by the Max Planck Society to young scientists and researchers in both the natural and social sciences. The award takes its name from the German chemist and Nobel Prize laureate Otto Hahn ...
. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the
American Physical Society for "his work at the interface of nuclear physics and astrophysics and the applications to stellar nucleosynthesis, Type Ia and Type II Supernovae, as well as the r- and rp-process." In 2008 he received the
Hans Bethe Prize
The Hans A. Bethe Prize, is presented annually by the American Physical Society.
The prize honors outstanding work in theory, experiment or observation in the areas of astrophysics, nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, or closely related fields ...
"for his many outstanding theoretical contributions to the understanding of
nucleosynthesis
Nucleosynthesis is the process that creates new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons (protons and neutrons) and nuclei. According to current theories, the first nuclei were formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, through nuclear reactions in ...
,
stellar evolution and stellar explosions."
Laudatio from the Bethe Prize
/ref> Since 2004 he is a member of the Swiss Research Council.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thielemann, Friedrich Karl
20th-century German physicists
Swiss astrophysicists
1951 births
Living people
Fellows of the American Physical Society
Theoretical physicists
21st-century German physicists