Five Wallenberg Scholars to the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Susanne Höfner, Annica Black-Schaffer and Peter Oppeneer have been appointed new Wallenberg Scholars and Olle Eriksson and Karin Schönning have had their former Wallenberg Scholars extended for an additional five years for the period 2024-2029.

Susanne Höfner will as a Wallenberg Scholar construct computer models over atmospheres and winds of cool giant stars and super giants to explore processes contributing to dust formation and wind acceleration. Something that would contribute to the understanding of how stars spread materials which may give rise to planets and life.

Annica Black-Schaffer will in her research build a theoretical framework to create, improve and understand electronic order, especially superconductivity, in open systems through non-Hermitian effects.

Peter Oppeneer’s goal is to build a theoretical framework for fast non-equilibrium quantum dynamics based on materials specific calculations and then apply the framework to important, unsolved problems within non-equilibrium dynamics of condensed materials.

Olle Eriksson was appointed Wallenberg Scholar for the first time in 2019 with the project The quest for magnetic materials of the future. As Wallenberg Scholar, Olle Eriksson has built a world-leading environment in materials theory at the Ångström laboratory in Uppsala. With the help of mathematical models and computer simulations he studies, among other things, magnetic materials in order to theoretically predict functionality and improved applications. The hope is to identify new, cheaper and more environmentally friendly magnetic materials, but also to constantly refine theoretical methods that describe the materials.

Karin Schönning will in her project Materiens sällsamma inre – på upptäcksfärd i femtometerkosmos continue to study some the smallest components of matter to come closer to a solution to one of the greatest mysteries within nuclear physics – the strong force of nature and why the universe is filled with more matter than antimatter. By measuring the spin properties, Karin Schönning and her colleges have managed to produce a “snapshot” of how a certain type of hyperon-antihyperon pair is formed – a milestone in the research. The image is not a real photography but corresponds to a set of parameters at a given time.

The programme Wallenberg Scholars was initiated in 2009 and is meant to support and stimulate some of the most successful senior researchers at Swedish universities. The grant is for five years (with the possibility of extension for a further five years) and the idea is to give leading researchers the freedom and resources to motivate them to stay in Sweden. In 2024, totally 118 Wallenberg Scholars were appointed. In total, 20 researchers at Uppsala University are involved in the programme.