Christina Eilers Wins Biermann Award
A version of this article was originally published August 14, 2025 by the German Astronomical Society.
The German Astronomical Society (AG), the German national professional association for astronomy and astrophysics, announces the award winners for 2025: The Ludwig Biermann Award goes to Anna-Christina Eilers, Paola Caselli is honoured with the Schwarzschild Medal, Frank Grupp receives the Instrument Development Award, Jonah Wagenveld receives the Doctoral Thesis Award, and Loreley Paul the Jugend-forscht special prize.
Prof Dr Anna-Christina Eilers, Assistant Professor at MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, is being awarded the Biermann Award in recognition of her extraordinary scientific contributions to the growth of black holes in the early universe. She joined MIT directly after completing her PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, having been awarded both a prestigious NASA Hubble Fellowship and a Pappalardo Fellowship. Already her doctoral thesis received wide recognition, earning her multiple honors including the 2020 Thesis Prize of the AG. Her work represents a new frontier in understanding how black holes grow in the early universe, linking observational data directly to theoretical models of dark matter halo formation. Her scientific impact is reflected in the volume of her publications. Her lead-author work has been widely cited and recognized across both Galactic and extragalactic astrophysics.
The German Astronomical Society awards the Karl Schwarzschild Medal 2025 to Prof Dr Paola Caselli for her pioneering contributions to astrochemistry and star formation. Paola Caselli is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and Honorary Professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She is a member of the Academy of Europe. She has previously conducted research at Harvard University, the University of Leeds, the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri in Florence, and the University of California at Berkeley, among others. Her scientific focus is on the physico-chemical processes in dense molecular clouds, particularly the early phases of star and planet formation. Paola Caselli combines innovative observational methods with theoretical modelling and laboratory astrochemistry. She has contributed significantly to understanding the chemical processes and the role of gas-dust interactions in interstellar and protostellar regions.
Dr Frank Grupp from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Garching and the University Observatory Munich is being awarded the 2025 Instrument Development Award for his outstanding achievements in the design and construction of complex optics, in particular for the ESA Euclid mission. Already during his doctorate, he worked on the optimisation of spectrographs and then increasingly turned to the development of optical designs. Due to his experience and commitment, he was appointed Lead Optical Architect of the international Euclid consortium. He perfected the design of the near-infrared wide-angle optics and led their construction and testing, resulting in an optical system that proved to be far better than required by the specification and demonstrated outstanding optical quality. His unique worldwide reputation as an optical designer benefits projects such as MICADO for the ELT and space missions.
Dr Jonah Wagenveld is awarded the Doctoral Thesis Prize for his outstanding PhD thesis, titled "Testing Large-Scale Cosmology with MeerKAT," completed at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn. He graduated with summa cum laude in 2024. Central to his work was the study of the cosmic radio dipole—an anisotropy in the distribution of radio sources that mirrors the dipole seen in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). He developed novel inference techniques with which he measured the radio dipole in large radio surveys to the highest degree of precision to date. Using MeerKAT data, he carried out meticulous calibration and data processing to allow for a measurement of the dipole using fainter radio sources than ever before. His results revealed a significant discrepancy in the amplitude of the cosmic dipole when derived from radio sources compared to the CMB, suggesting a possible challenge to the cosmological principle.
Loreley Paul from the Einstein-Gymnasium in Neuenhagen near Berlin receives the special prize from the AG for the best work in the field of astronomy in the national Jugend forscht (Youth's Research) competition. In her project with the title „Wann wird es Licht? Die photometrische Entwicklung der rekurrierenden Nova TCrB 2024", she investigated the variable star T Coronae Borealis using special broadband photometry.
The award ceremonies will take place during the annual meeting of the German Astronomical Society in Görlitz from September 15-19, 2025.