Volker Springel becomes Vice President of the Astronomical Society
At its 2023 Annual Meeting, the German Astronomical Society elected Volker Springel, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics as Vice President.
Volker Springel studied physics at the University of Tübingen and UC Berkeley and completed his diploma thesis as well as his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA). After a postdoctoral period at the Center for Astrophysics in the U.S., he initially returned to MPA as a postdoctoral researcher and received a position there as a group leader in Numerical Cosmology in 2005. In 2010, he moved to the University of Heidelberg and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies. Since 2018, he has been director of the Computational Astrophysics Division at MPA and is an honorary professor at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. “As vice president, I would like to champion the Astronomical Society, having benefited greatly from it time and again. I believe we are in an excellent position in astronomy in Germany to continue to successfully exploit the opportunities in astronomical research,” said Volker Springel.
In addition to Volker Springel, Prof. Dr. Stefanie Walch-Gassner was elected as president and Prof. Dr. Julia Tjus as a member of the board. Walch-Gassner, who also spent several years doing postdoctoral research at MPA, is the first female president in the 160-year history of the German Astronomical Society. In 2013, she received an appointment to a W3 professorship in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Cologne.
Founded in 1863, the Astronomische Gesellschaft (AG) is the professional association of German astronomy and astrophysics. The AG promotes activities in science and research, strengthens the exchange between its members, communicates science to the public, and promotes education. On the international level, the AG represents the common interests of astronomers in the European Astronomical Society (EAS) and in the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The Council of German Observatories (RDS), as an organ of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, represents the common interests of the German institutes active in astronomical research towards funding agencies, state and federal authorities, international organizations and other bodies in Germany and abroad.
