Dr. Lisa-Marie Kern receives the Klaus Tschira Foundation’s KlarText Award for Science Communication

Complex research explained understandable

 

Dr. Lisa-Marie Kern (29), currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy, was awarded the Klaus Tschira Foundation’s KlarText Award for Science Communication in the Physics category on October 10, 2024. Together with six other laureates, she is being honored for her outstanding ability to communicate complex scientific concepts. The award is endowed with €7,500.

The young scientist applied for the award with an article explaining the specialist content of her doctoral thesis in a way that even people without a physics degree could understand what she was working on.

In her doctoral thesis, “Controlled Manipulation of Magnetic Skyrmions: Generation, Motion and Dynamics,” she studied the controlled generation and manipulation of current- and laser-induced magnetic vortices known as skyrmions. Dr. Kern conducts basic research which could one day be used to develop new technologies such as computer hard drives.

Kern believes that science communication is of great importance to society. “Communicating research to society means not excluding anyone and not retreating into an ‘ivory tower’. One of the benefits is that it helps to attract young scientists. Also, we should not underestimate the fact that people have a right to know how their taxes are being spent. That too is participation.”

The KlarText Award is the third prize that the young physicist has won. In 2023, she received the Carl Ramsauer Award of the Physikalische Gesellschaft zu Berlin, and in the spring of 2024, the Doctoral Award of the Condensed Matter Section (SKM) of the German Physical Society (DPG) – both prizes were awarded for her outstanding doctoral thesis.

Her doctoral supervisor, Professor Dr. Stefan Eisebitt, Director at the Max Born Institute and Executive Board Spokesperson for the Forschungsverbund Berlin e. V., is proud of his former PhD student. “Lisa-Marie Kern is an excellent scientist who never loses sight of the big picture when working on a problem. This is demonstrated by the rigorous way in which she advanced her research during her doctoral studies, and it is also reflected in the clear way in which she communicates the complex interrelationships she is working on to a broader audience.” The Forschungsverbund attaches great importance to the promotion of young women scientists in the natural sciences.

The Klaus Tschira Foundation, which sponsors the KlarText Award, was established in 1995 by physicist and SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira. The foundation is dedicated to science communication, education and research in the fields of natural science, mathematics and computer science. The KlarText Award has been presented annually since 2002.

Dr. Lisa-Marie Kern's text for the 2024 KlarText Prize and Video: Introduction of KlarText Awardee Dr. Lisa-Marie Kern