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Prof. Dr. Cornelis P. Dullemond appointed as professor for theoretical astrophysics at ZAH

Prof. Dr. Cornelis P. Dullemond has been appointed as professor for theoretical astrophysics at the Departmemt of Physics and Astronomy of Heidelberg University. At the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA) of the Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg (ZAH) he will, inter alia, work on planet formation from cosmic dust. Detecting extrasolar planets has almost become routine for astronomers. About 500 such planets have been discovered so far. However, the fact that we find planets at all is not self-evident. The physics of planet formation belongs to the most demanding topics of modern astrophysics. Therefore, the local astronomical community is pleased that Prof. Dullemond accepted this professorship at ITA effective November 2, 2010. Prof. Dullemond was born in Nijmegen, Netherlands, in 1970. He studied from 1989 to 1994 at Amsterdam University and worked on his PhD from 1994 until 1999 at the University of Leiden. This work focussed on accretion processes around black holes and questions of radiation transport in clouds of gas and dust in the vicinity of stars. Afterwards, he moved to the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching (MPA) and in 2004 to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA). There, he has lead a Max Planck Research group since 2006. At the ZAH, extrasolar planets have been a traditional field of research for many years. Due to Dullemond's expertise this research is now fostered from a theoretical points of view. By means of computational simulations Prof. Dullemond tries to understand and reproduce the process of planet formation from planetary disks. His simulations go into detail. They incorporate dust particles as the very first building blocks of planets and try to disentangle the physics of their assembly. Such simulations allow to predict their age-dependent appearance to an observer in different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Such observations are currently carried out with large telescopes. Prof. Dullemonds scientific expertise complements and expands ITA’s profile both in terms of research and teaching. Synergies currently emerge in cooperation with other research groups of the ZAH, i.e. N-body methods will be applied to the process of agglomeration of dust particles. We welcome Prof. Dullemond at ZAH and wish him all the best for his work!!