Forschung

Rolf Kudritzki is distinguished for his many important contributions in stellar astronomy. He is a world leading expert in stellar spectroscopy. He has developed novel methods to model the atmospheres of stars and he has applied these methods with great success for the quantitative analysis of stellar spectra. His studies have focussed on the formation and evolution of the most massive and most luminous stars in the universe. He uses these objects as tools to understand the chemical evolution of galaxies and to determine accurate distances to galaxies. Rolf Kudritzki was director of the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Munich University from 1982 to 2000. He then moved to Hawaii as the director of the Institute for Astronomy.

Career

• since 2000 Astronomer, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
• 2000-2010 Director, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
• 2003-2004 Vice-Chancellor for Research, University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA
• 1999-2000 Dean, Physics Department, University Munich, Germany
• 1990-2000 Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Scientific Member, Germany
• 1982-2000 Professor of Astronomy, University Munich, Germany
• 1982-2000 Director, University Observatory, University Munich, Germany
• 1979-1982 Academic Board member, University Kiel, Germany
• 1976-1979 Scientific Assistent, University Kiel, Germany
• 1973-1976 Scientific Assistent, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
• 1978 Habilitation, University Kiel, Germany
• 1973 Promotion, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
• 1965-1971 Studium der Physik an der Technischen Universität Berlin, Germany

Honours and Memberships

• 2010 Humboldt Prize of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation
• 2009 Karl Schwarzschild Prize of the Astronomische Gesellschaft
• since 2000 External Member of the Max Planck Institut for Astrophysics
• since 1994 Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina