Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Antony Nagelmann

Prof. Dr. Oliver Brock,
39, computer scientist from Germany, studied at Berlin and Stanford where he completed his doctorate in 2000. He spent time researching at Rice University in Houston, USA, before returning to Stanford in 2001. Since 2002, he has been conducting research and teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA. He has been awarded, amongst others, the NSF Career Award (2006).

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Antony Nagelmann

Prof. Dr. Piet Wibertus Brouwer,
37, theoretical solid state physicist from the Netherlands, studied physics and mathematics at Leiden, Netherlands, where he completed his doctorate in physics in 1997. He then spent time researching at Harvard before moving to Cornell University, Ithaca, USA, in 1999 where he has been conducting research ever since. Brouwer was granted the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2006 and the Provost's Award for Distinguished Scholarship by Cornell University in 2007.

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Maurice Haas

Prof. Dr. Georgi Dvali,
44, particle physicist and cosmologist from Georgia, where he studied and completed his doctorate in high energy physics and cosmology at Tbilisi State University in 1992. His academic career took him to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste and Pisa University. Since 1998, Dvali has been conducting research and teaching at New York University. Since 2007, he has also been working concurrently at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research CERN in Geneva.

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Antony Nagelmann

Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gaul,
48, developmental biologist from Germany, studied biochemistry and physics at Tübingen where she completed her doctorate at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in 1988. She spent time researching at the University of Washington and the University of California in Berkeley and has been a professor at Rockefeller University in New York since 1993.

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Antony Nagelmann

Prof. Dr. Tamas L. Horvath,
41, neurobiologist from Hungary, studied veterinary medicine in Budapest and completed his doctorate in neurobiology in Szeged, Hungary, in 1999. Back in 1990, Horvath went to Yale, in New Haven, USA, where he works today. Research stays took him to Madrid, Spain, and Sannio, Italy. Horvath is a member, amongst others, of the Society for Neuroscience and the International Society of Neuroendocrinology.

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Jasper Zwartjes

Prof. Dr. Norbert Langer,
50, astrophysicist from Germany, studied at Göttingen where he completed his doctorate in 1986. In the same year, Langer became the first recipient of the German Astronomical Society’s Ludwig Biermann Award. From 1993 to 1996, he worked at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching on the strength of a Heisenberg Fellowship and subsequently moved to Potsdam University. He has been conducting research and teaching at Utrecht University, Netherlands, since 2000.

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Ulrike Leyens

Prof. Dr. Martin Bodo Plenio,
40, quantum optician from Germany, studied physics at Göttingen where he completed his doctorate in theoretical physics in 1994. A Feodor Lynen Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation took Plenio to Imperial College London, UK, in 1995 where he has been conducting research ever since. Amongst other awards, Plenio has been invited to give the Royal Society Clifford Paterson Lecture (2008) and has received the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award (2005) and the IOP’s Maxwell Medal and Prize (2004).

Photo: Humboldt Foundation/ Antony Nagelmann

Prof. Dr. Burkhard Rost,
47, bioinformatics scientist from Germany, studied physics, philosophy, history and psychology in Gießen and Heidelberg and completed his doctorate in physics at Heidelberg in 1994. In 1995, he spent time researching at Hinxton, Cambridge, UK and has been conducting research and teaching at Columbia University, New York, since 1998. Rost is, amongst others, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.