Dr. Jessica Bosch awarded the Otto Hahn Medal

Prestigious prize for junior scientists of the Max Planck Society was given for her work on the development of fast and robust solvers for phase field problems from many application areas

June 29, 2018

Dr. rer. nat. Jessica Bosch, alumnus of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems Magdeburg and the IMPRS, has been awarded the Otto Hahn Medal for junior scientists of the Max Planck Society for her outstanding scientific achievements. The award was presented during the 69th Annual Meeting of the Max Planck Society in June 2018, in Heidelberg. The prize was given for her work on the development of fast and robust solvers for phase field problems from many application areas.

Dr. Jessica Bosch receives the Otto Hahn Medal in June 2018 in Heidelberg, handed over to her by Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth, President of the Max Planck Society. © Amac Garbe / MPG

Dr. Jessica Bosch receives the Otto Hahn Medal in June 2018 in Heidelberg, handed over to her by Prof. Dr. Ferdi Schüth, President of the Max Planck Society.

© Amac Garbe / MPG

In her PhD thesis, Jessica Bosch worked on phase field problems, which provide important models for problems in materials science, biology, image processing or machine learning. These are challenging mathematical problems - as one has to deal with complex, coupled, nonlinear, high order equations, and all these complicated structures are reflected when the system finally has to be evaluated on a computer. In her groundbreaking work, Jessica Bosch made it possible to solve phase field problems very acurately in a variety of different scenarios.

Ubiquity, elegance, and complexity of mathematics

"The ubiquity, elegance, and complexity of mathematics fascinate me. In addition, research is full of surprises: on the one hand, there are the moments of wonder and joy when you have discovered complex connections. On the other hand, there are the hurdles and challenges that need to be overcome", says Jessica Bosch on her motivation.

36 yong scientists have been honoured for their outstanding scientific achievements during the general meeting in Heidelberg.© Amac Garbe / MPG — 36 yong scientists have been honoured for their outstanding scientific achievements during the general meeting in Heidelberg. © Amac Garbe / MPG

36 yong scientists have been honoured for their outstanding scientific achievements during the general meeting in Heidelberg.
© Amac Garbe / MPG

Jessica Bosch has received her PhD in the MPI research group Numerical Linear Algebra for Dynamical Systems and is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

The Max Planck Society has honoured up to 30 young scientists and researchers each year with the Otto Hahn Medal for outstanding scientific achievements since 1978. The prize is intended to motivate especially gifted junior scientists and researchers to pursue a future university or research career. The award is presented during the general meeting in the following year.