The Wilhelm Ostwald Society of Großbothen e.V., the German Bunsen Society for Physical Chemistry and the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker award the 2010 Wilhelm Ostwald Young Talent Prize to Dr. Ing. Ingo Barth (Max Born Institute Berlin) for his extraordinary dissertation: Quantum control of electron and nuclear circulation, ring currents, and induced magnetic fields in atoms, and molecules by circularly polarized laser pulses.
Ingo Barth studied at the FU Berlin in the working group of Prof. Dr. med. Jörn Manz is doing his doctorate. In his dissertation he has developed the quantum theoretical basis for the excitation of ring currents and induced magnetic fields in molecules or molecular or atomic ions by circularly polarized laser pulses. The main goal is the generation of stationary electronic and nuclear ring currents in excited degenerate electron and vibration states. The advantage of circularly polarized laser pulse excitation is that it is typically two orders of magnitude more efficient than external magnetic fields, in addition to allowing control of the ring currents. Mr. Barth also predicts that huge magnetic fields prevail in the center of such ring currents.
With this dissertation, Mr. Barth bridges in the sense of Ostwald bridges from theoretical chemistry and physical chemistry to theoretical physics and experimental physics as well as mathematics. The results are also of importance for branches of organic chemistry. The statements of the dissertation of Mr. Barth have meanwhile initiated new research directions in organic chemistry, physical chemistry and experimental physics.
Worth mentioning is that Mr. Barth was born deaf and is the first deaf doctor in chemistry in Germany. As a teacher of sign language he has made a bridge to the humanities. He has extended the vocabulary of sign language by about 500 technical terms from theoretical and physical chemistry.
The prize is endowed with 2,500 euros and will be awarded on 12 March 2011 in an event organized by the Wilhelm Ostwald Society in Großbothen near Leipzig, the place of work of 1909 Nobel laureate for chemistry, Wilhelm Ostwald. (Location: Wilhelm-Ostwald-Park, 04668 Großbothen, Grimmaer Str. 25, Haus Werk)