Frank Eisenhauer
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Giessenbachstr., 85748 Garching, Germany, +49 89 300003563
Kohlroeschenstr. 53, 80995 Munich, Germany
9. June 1968 in Augsburg
married, three children
Scientific member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). Leading the development and science exploration of large astronomical instruments and experiments, two of them are part of the instrument suite employed in the discovery and characterization of the Galactic Center Black Hole
Principal Investigator of GRAVITYPlus to upgrade the ESO
since 2020
VLT
Interferometer with wide-field fringe tracking and laser guide star
adaptive
optics to open up the extragalactic sky for milli-arcsec resolution
imaging and
to precisely measure exoplanet spectra and orbits
Leading or co-leading discoveries with the GRAVITY instrument, since 2017
including the detection of the gravitational redshift in the orbit of a star
around the Galactic Center black hole and the orbital motion of
matter close to the last stable orbit around this black hole
Principal Investigator of GRAVITY – the infrared interferometer for since 2005
exploring physics close to the Galactic Center black hole. GRAVITY
is a multi-national project led by MPE with more than a hundred
scientists and engineers from all over Europe contributing to its
development.
Principal Investigator of SPIFFI/SINFONI – the world’s first since 2003
adaptive optics integral field spectrometer on a 10m class telescope.
The instrument was key to measure the mass and distance of the
Galactic Center black hole, thereby demonstrating its extreme nature
Major contributions to other MPE near infrared and high angular resolution instruments for ground and space based observatories, e.g. the European Southern Observatory, Large Binocular Telescope and European Space Agency
Instrument Development Award of the German Astronomical Society 2023
for the development of innovative complex infrared instruments
Gruber Cosmology Prize for designing instruments that collected 2022
evidence for a black hole at the center of our galaxy
Stern-Gerlach Medal of the German Physical Society 2022
for the pioneering work in high-resolution infrared astronomy
Jackson-Gwilt Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 2022
for the development of astronomical instrumentation
Foreign Associate to the Academie des Sciences 2022
Michelson Investigator Achievement Award 2020 for the 2022
groundbreaking results of VLTI-GRAVITY
Tycho Brahe Medal of the European Astronomical Society 2021
for the leadership of the SINFONI and GRAVITY instruments
Adjunct Professor (apl. Professor) at Technical University of Munich since 2023
(regular lectures on “Introduction to Astrophysics” and
“High Angular Resolution Astronomy”, supervision of bachelor
and master theses)
Adjunct Teaching Professor (Privatdozent) at Technical University since 2011
of Munich
Supervisor at the International Max Planck Research School on
Astrophysics (supervision of PhD theses)
Member of the MPG, TUM and LMU “ORIGINS Excellence Cluster” since 2019
Member of the ERC Synergy Grant “Black Hole Cam” 2014 - 2021
Member of the MPG, TUM and LMU “Universe Excellence Cluster” 2006 - 2018
Scientific member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the 2023 - present
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE)
Senior Staff Scientist at MPE 2003 - 2023
Postdoc / Research Associate at MPE 1998 - 2003
PhD Student at MPE 1995 - 1998
Technical University of Munich, Habilitation in Experimental Physics 2011
“The Galactic Center at High Angular Resolution –
Techniques and Observations”
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Doctorate in Physics 1998
„Bau einer Nahinfrarot-Kamera fuer adaptive Optik und
Beobachtungen der Sternentstehungsregion NGC 3603“
Technical University of Munich, Diploma in Physics 1995
Justus-von-Liebig Gymnasium Neusaess, 1987
General Qualification for University Entrance
Gebirgsfernmeldebatallion 8 in Murnau 1987 – 1988
397 scientific publications with more than 21.900 citations (h-index of 75), in particular 54 publications with more than 100 citations each, and more than a dozen of them as first or co-leading author, for example
Gravity Collaboration et al. 2020: "Detection of the Schwarzschild precession in the orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole", Astronomy and Astrophysics, 636, L5 (339 citations)
Gravity
Collaboration et al. 2018: "Detection of orbital motions near the last stable
circular orbit of the massive black hole SgrA*", Astronomy and Astrophysics,
618, L10 (265 citations)
Gravity
Collaboration et al. 2018: "Detection of the gravitational redshift in the
orbit of the star S2 near the Galactic centre massive black hole", Astronomy and
Astrophysics, 615, L15 (633 citations)
Eisenhauer,
F., Genzel, R., et al. 2005: "SINFONI in the Galactic Center: Young Stars and
Infrared Flares in the Central Light-Month", ApJ, 628, 246 (596 citations)
Genzel, R.,
Eisenhauer, F., & Gillessen, S. 2010: "The Galactic Center massive
black hole and nuclear star cluster", Reviews of Modern Physics, 82, 3121 (898 citations)
Gillessen, S., Eisenhauer, F., et al. 2009: "Monitoring Stellar Orbits Around the Massive Black Hole in the Galactic Center", ApJ, 692, 1075 (1296 citations)
More than a dozen press releases, for example
Star dancing around supermassive black hole confirms Einstein 2020
First Detailed Observations of Material Orbiting close to a Black Hole 2018
First Successful Test of Einstein’s General Relativity Near Supermassive 2018
Black Hole” (key speaker at press conference)
Numerous invited talks and colloquia, for example
Astronomy at Highest Angular Resolution - Adaptive Optics, Interferometry 2023
and Black Holes, Tel Aviv University, Israel
Infrared Interferometry of the Galactic Center Black Hole, Plenary Talk 2022
23rd Conference on General Relativity and Gravitation, Bejing, China
The Universe in 3D Motion - from SINFONI to GRAVITY towards the Future 2021
Tycho Brahe Prize Talk, EAS Annual Meeting, Leiden, The Netherlands
A New Era of Interferometry with GRAVITY, SPIE Astronomical 2020
Telescopes + Instrumentation Plenary Talk, Los Angles, USA
The Galactic Center Black Hole with GRAVITY: Orbital Motion Close
2019
to the Last
Stable Orbit during a Flare, and General Relativistic Effects
in the Orbit of Stars, Harvard and Smithsonian CfA Colloquium, USA
The S2 peri-passage - general relativistic effects in stellar orbits around the
2018
Galactic
Center black hole”, Munich Joint Astronomical Colloquium, Germany
Imprint and
Data protection information, last update:
2023-11-12, editor of this page: Frank
Eisenhauer