The award was presented to Professor Thomas Nilsson (opens in new tab) during a ceremony in the Clock Tower Lecture Hall at TU Darmstadt by the Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs, Professor Thomas Walther.

Professor Thomas Nilsson is an internationally recognized figure in the field of nuclear physics. Since December 2024, he has been Scientific Director of the GSI Helmholtz Center and the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe (FAIR) (opens in new tab). His academic career began with studies in engineering physics at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. While pursuing his doctorate, he established his first connections with what was then the Technical University of Darmstadt (now TU Darmstadt), which he deepened as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Physics at TU Darmstadt from 2004 to 2006.

As a professor of physics at Chalmers University, Mr. Nilsson researches fundamental interactions in subatomic systems, particularly in nuclei with a large excess of neutrons or protons. These exotic states open up new insights into the structure of matter. He is also a member of the Physics Class of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is responsible, among other things, for selecting Nobel Prize winners.

TU Darmstadt is delighted to strengthen its international networks by awarding Professor Nilsson this title, thereby forging closer ties with the university and the Department of Physics (opens in new tab).