Hertha Sponer Prize
The Hertha Sponer Prize is a scientific prize of the German Physical Society. It has been awarded annually since 2002 to a female scientist for outstanding scientific work in the field of physics, and was initiated by the Equal Opportunities Working Group of the DPG. The prize is intended to encourage younger female scientists by publicly recognizing them, with the hope that this recognition attracts more women to study physics. The prize consists of a certificate and award of €3,000. Nominations are for recognition of a particular work, and self-nominations are permitted.
The prize is named after the German physicist Hertha Sponer, who made important contributions to molecular physics and spectroscopy.
Prizewinners
Former prizewinners include:- 2002: Karina Morgenstern for dynamic scanning tunneling microscope investigations on nanostructures.
- 2003: Uta Fritze-von Alvensleben for the investigation of galaxy evolution on cosmological time scales, in particular with regard to their interaction.
- 2004: Myrjam Winning for contributions to metallurgy and materials science, in particular X-ray structure investigations of grain boundaries.
- 2005: Elena Vedmedenko for outstanding work on the magnetism of nanostructures with applications in spintronics.
- 2006: Ekaterina Shamonina for outstanding contributions to electromagnetic metamaterials.
- 2007: Christine Silberhorn for work on quantum communication with continuous variables.
- 2008: Sylvie Roke for experimental and theoretical work on nonlinear optical scattering at particle surfaces.
- 2009: Corinna Kollath for theoretical studies of non-equilibrium states of ultracold boson and fermion atomic gases.
- 2010: Liu Na for pioneering contributions to the characterization and fabrication of three-dimensional metal nanostructures.
- 2011: Martina Hentschel for the theoretical investigation of mesoscopic electronic and optical systems, in particular optical microcavities and the radiation characteristics of microlasers.
- 2012: Katharina Franke for her groundbreaking work on the interaction of magnetic molecules with superconductors on the nano- and mesoscopic scale.
- 2013: Kerstin Tackmann gor her outstanding work on the way to the detection of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
- 2014: Anne Schukraft for the measurement of muon neutrinos with energies up to eV with the IceCube detector.
- 2015: Ilaria Zardo for outstanding work on understanding the lattice dynamics and electronic band structures of semiconductor nanowires with wurtzite and zincblende crystal structures.
- 2016 not awarded
- 2017: Isabelle Staude in recognition of her pioneering contribution to basic research in nanophotonics.
- 2018: Karin Everschor-Sitte for her pioneering research on the theoretical understanding of topologically protected magnetic structures, the skyrmions.
- 2019: Adriana Pálffy-Buß for her pioneering theoretical calculations of the interaction of high-energy radiation with atomic nuclei based on quantum effects.
- 2020: Priscilla Pani for her essential contributions to the search for dark matter at the LHC.
- 2021: Naëmi Riccarda Leo for her outstanding contributions to the study and characterization of artificial metamaterials and ferroic systems.
- 2022: Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich for her outstanding theoretical and experimental contributions to the characterization of the mechanical properties of cells and protein condensates.
- 2023: Joint award to
- * Adinda de Wit for her outstanding experimental contributions to the first observation of the Higgs-b-Yukawa coupling and the precise determination of the Higgs couplings
- *Belina von Krosigk for her fundamental contributions to the direct search and understanding of dark matter through the further development of models and methodological and analytical techniques for the detection of weak signals.
- 2024: Juliane Borchert for her outstanding contributions to the understanding of processes for highly efficient perovskite solar cells.
- 2025: Janna Katharina Behr for her major contributions to the search for an extended Higgs sector through Higgs decays to top quarks.