The Jürgen Ehlers Thesis Prize

Deadline extended to 15 Nov 2012

Prof. Jürgen Ehlers

Springer-Verlag

In 2008, the Society instituted a Thesis Prize in memory of Professor Jürgen Ehlers (1929-2008), a distinguished relativist and a past President of the Society. Professor Ehlers made seminal contributions to foundations of general relativity, many of its mathematical aspects and cosmology. He was the founding director of the Albert Einstein Institute of the Max Planck Society of Germany and won the Max Planck Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the German Physical Society.

This prize is sponsored by Springer in honour of Professor Ehlers, who had a long and fruitful relationship with the publisher as one of the Founding Editors of the book series Lecture Notes in Physics and as author of several books. It will be given during the tri-annual international conferences of the Society for the best Ph.D. thesis in the areas of mathematical and numerical general relativity. The recipient will receive a cheque for US $ 1500 and a certificate.

The first prize was awarded during GR19 in Mexico City. The governance can be summarized as follows. The deadline for receipt of the nomination packet is Novmeber 15, 2012. The nominator must be a member of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation and can make at most one nomination. The nominee need not be a member of the Society but the official defense must have taken place between September 1, 2009 and August 31, 2012. The nomination package will consist of:

i) A nomination letter summarizing the main results and their importance and elaborating student's role in case of joint work.
ii) A PDF file or four hard copies of the thesis (one for each committee member). Copies of published papers that constitute the thesis can be submitted in lieu of the thesis.
iii) A CV and the publication list of the nominee.
iv) An official University document showing the date of the successful Ph.D. defense. (This can be sent later, if not available by September 30th, 2012.)
v) One or two letters in support from experts if the nominator is a supervisor of the Ph.D. thesis.

The primary criteria for selection will be the high quality of scientific results, creativity and originality, and the significance of results to the broad area of the prize. The winner for each prize will be chosen by a committee of leading international experts in the field approximately six months before the GR19 conference in Mexico City. This will provide the winners ample time to plan travel to the conference. (In exceptional cases, the Executive committee of the GRG Society may allow the prize to be given in absentia.)

Electronic nominations are preferred. The nomination packet should be sent to:
Prof. Bernd Brügmann, c/o Renate Wagner

Mailing address for hard copies:

Renate Wagner
Theoretical Physics Institute
University of Jena
Max-Wien-Platz 1
07743 Jena, Germany

Ehlers Prize Recipients

2010, Nicholas Yunes , thesis institution: Pennsylvania State University

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