The Charpak-Ritz Prize 2020 is awarded to Philipp Werner

Patrick Mayor, EPFL, NCCR MARVEL

The award recognizes his major contributions in condensed matter physics, in the development of new numerical methods, especially for quantifying out-of-equilibrium dynamics to address light-induced phenomena in strongly correlated solids. The selection committee also notes his long-standing and very fruitful collaboration with the French physics community on the GW+DMFT method.

Philipp Werner is a specialist on the dynamical mean field simulation of strongly correlated electron systems. His development of powerful numerical algorithms has enabled systematic investigations of important classes of correlated materials, such as unconventional superconductors, and has opened new lines of research. ln particular, the development of nonequilibrium dynamical mean field theory over the past 10 years has resulted in a versatile theoretical framework for the study of ultrafast processes in solids

After a diploma at EPFL, Philipp Werner completed his PhD at ETHZ under the supervision of Prof. Matthias Troyer. After a postdoc at Columbia University, he returned to Switzerland as Swiss National Science Foundation Professor at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at ETHZ, then joined the University of Fribourg as Associate Professor (2012-2018), then Professor (since June 2018). He is the author of about 180 papers in refereed journals. The impact of his work is testified by the number of citations (>10000) and an h-index of 55 (Google scholar).

The Charpak-Ritz Prize has been created jointly by the Société Française de Physique (SFP) and the Swiss Physical Society (SPS) in 2016, to highlight the tight relationship between the two societies and in memory of Georges Charpak and Walther Ritz, who have both profoundly contributed to physics in their respective times. The prize distinguishes exceptional contributions in physics or in its development, to honor a physicist (or a small team of physicists) who has produced significant contributions in France (odd years) or in Switzerland (even years). 

Due to this year’s disruption in events and ceremonies, the laureate will receive the award at a later date this year during an event organized by the SFP.