Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award

The Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award is annually awarded by the Dutch Physics Council. The award recognizes an outstanding PhD thesis in the field of physics, defended at a Dutch university in the previous year. The prize is open to nominations in any subfield of physics, and for theoretical as well as experimental work. The winner receives € 5,000 and is invited to present his/her research at the national NWO Physics conference in Veldhoven in January 2025. The Dutch Physics Council invites nominations for the 2024 Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award. For the 2024 prize the PhD degree must have been awarded in the period 1 September 2023 – 1 September 2024. Nominations are to be submitted electronically according to these Rules and instructions. The deadline is 1 October 2024. The jury for the 2024 Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award includes:

Winners Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa thesis award
Year

WinnersHonourable mention
2023Jesse Slim (AMOLF/TU/e)Vincent Debets (TU/e)
2022Carmem Maia Gilardoni (RUG)Andrea Cordaro (AMOLF) en Brian Moser (Nikhef)
2021Anne Meeussen (AMOLF/LEI)Guoji Zheng (QuTech/TUD), Melissa van Beekveld (RU/Nikhef) and Nico Hendrickx (QuTech/TUD)
2020 Koen Bastiaans (LEI)Mario Avellaneda (AMOLF), Jorinde van de Vis (Nikhef) and Andreas Wallucks (TUD)

Who were Ehrenfest and Afanassjewa?

Paul Ehrenfest (1880-1933) contributed to the foundations of quantum physics and was an inspiring teacher and mentor of a string of outstanding PhD students at Leiden University. Tatiana Ehrenfest-Afanassjewa (1876-1964), Paul’s companion in life and in science, contributed to the foundations of statistical physics. Together they made their home a place where students were encouraged to boldly explore new ideas.

Paul & Tatiana Ehrenfest. Credits: Martin J. Klein

Background reading