Alexander von Humboldt Professorship

Prof Gustav Holzegel
Prof Gustav Holzegel has been conducting research as an Alexander von Humboldt Professor in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Münster since 2021.
© Uni MS - Victoria Liesche

The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is the highest endowed German science prize and enables researchers employed abroad to conduct a long-term, pioneering research project at a university in Germany. The Humboldt Professorships are awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and financed by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). Their purpose is to facilitate long-term, future-oriented research work at German universities and research facilities and thereby strengthen Germany’s competitive edge as a research location internationally. There are three Humboldt Professors currently working at the University of Münster.

The Humboldt Professorship offers me extraordinary freedom to pursue my own academic goals. In Münster it allowed me to assemble a large international group with a broad research spectrum in the theory of relativity, and to bring onboard a large number of visiting researchers for a longer period to Münster. The creates a special dynamic, in which new mathematical ideas can be conceived and put into practice.
Prof Gustav Holzegel, mathematics
  • 2020 | Prof Dr Gustav Holzegel (Mathematics)

    Funding period at the University of Münster

    2020-2027

    Abstract

    As a specialist in Einstein field equations, the mathematician Gustav Holzegel studies physical theories on the properties of the universe. He has, for instance, managed to find solutions to the mathematical equations in the general theory of relativity which explain the stability of black holes.

    Prof Dr Gustav Holzegel at the University of Münster

    Dossier of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation about Prof Dr Gustav Holzegel

  • 2015 | Prof Dr Katrin Kogman-Appel (Jewish studies)

    Funding period at the University of Münster

    2015-2020

    Abstract

    What do the illustrations in mediaeval Jewish manuscripts tell us about the life of Jewish communities at the time? What interaction existed between Jewish pictorial and book culture and that of Christian and Islamic cultures? Jewish scholar Katrin Kogman-Appel is widely regarded as a world authority on the Jewish Art of the Middle Ages. She understands art history in terms of cultural history and always relates both to aspects of social and religious history. A typical example of Kogman-Appel’s approach is her work on the so-called Leipzig Mahzor, a collection of prayers for Jewish holidays and one of the most famous examples of Hebrew illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages. The prayer book was produced in southwestern Germany around 1310 and is known to have been kept at Worms in the 16th century. Kogman-Appel directs her attention to the role of the Mahzor and the rites of late-mediaeval Jewish community life depicted; she also focusses on social cohesion within the Jewish community in Worms, which was then a centre of Judaism in Germany. By embracing the broader cultural context, Kogman-Appel has an impact beyond the confines of Jewish Studies on Mediaeval Studies in general.

    Prof Dr Katrin Kogman-Appel at the University of Münster

    Dossier of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation about Prof Dr Katrin Kogman-Appel

  • 2012 | Prof Dr Michael Weiss (Mathematics)

    Funding period at the University of Münster

    2012-2017

    Abstract

    One of his greatest achievements is proving the Mumford conjecture, a mathematical problem that extends into many areas of the discipline. At the University of Münster, Weiss is to take on a new professorship in mathematics and strengthen geometric research in Münster, as well as helping the university join the world’s leading institutes in topology.

    Prof Dr Michael Weiss at the University of Münster

    Dossier of the Alexander von Humboldt foundation about Prof Michael Weiss