Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes 2009: Six young researchers recognized for outstanding achievements

Female prizewinners in the majority for the first time

This release is available in German.

Four women and two men have been chosen to receive this year's Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, Germany's top research award for young scientists. This is the first time in the history of the prize, which has been awarded annually by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research since 1977, that the majority of the recipients have been young women.

The winners of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize 2009, named after the former President of the DFG and atomic physicist Professor Heinz Maier-Leibnitz, are:

• Dr. André Bornemann, geosciences, University of Leipzig
• Dr. Ina Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, linguistics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig
• Dr. Patrik L. Ferrari, mathematics, University of Bonn
• Dr. Heike Krebber, molecular biology, University of Marburg
• Prof. Dr. Ing. Gisela Lanza, mechanical engineering, University of Karlsruhe
• Dr. Angelika Lohwasser, Egyptology, Free University of Berlin

"Promoting young researchers is one of the DFG's top priorities," emphasised the Vice President of the DFG, Professor Luise Schorn-Schütte, chair of the selection committee for the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize, on the occasion of the announcement of this year's prize winners by the funding organisation's Executive Committee. As Professor Schorn-Schütte highlighted, there were also "a very pleasing number of women" amongst this year's proposals and nominations for the prize. The selection committee received 118 nominations, 35 of which were for women. Of the 118 nominees, 56 were short-listed, 22 of whom were women. "The four female prize recipients and their two male counterparts have all done impressive research work and have a proven scientific track record, which they have developed from an early age," said Professor Schorn-Schütte.