Thomas Schulthess from CSCS Awarded Doron Prize

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The Swiss Foundation for the Doron Prize has awarded Prof. Dr. Thomas Schulthess will be rewarded for the exceptional results achieved in the field of high performance computing. The Doron awards amount to 100,000 Swiss francs each.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Schulthess is one of the most renowned scientists in Switzerland and the United States in the field of high performance scientific computing. In 2008 he was appointed director of the Swiss Center for Scientific Computing (CSCS) and full professor of computational physics at the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich (ETH Zurich). On behalf of the Federation, the CSCS is responsible for computational research in Switzerland, managing a high-efficiency technological platform for processing scientific questions through simulations, data analysis and information storage. The CSCS was established in 1991 as a national computing center for ETH Zurich based in Ticino.

Born in Kathmandu (Nepal), Thomas Schulthess studied physics at ETH Zurich and received his doctorate in 1994 with a thesis on surface physics, in which he made use of experiments and simulations. He then continued his research at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (California) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Tennessee), during which he produced about 70 scientific publications published in the most prestigious sector magazines. His research interests focus on magnetoelectronics, nanosciences and materials containing transition metal oxides as well as on the application of supercomputing in these areas. In 2008 and 2009, with his Oak Ridge team, he won the Gordon Bell Award,

Since Thomas Schulthess assumed the position of director of the CSCS, an interdisciplinary exchange between the various scientific subjects has been encouraged and a close collaboration with mathematicians, computer scientists and hardware manufacturers has been cultivated.

With his precious scientific and technical contribution, Prof. Dr. Thomas Schulthess has laid important foundations for the success of research groups that use the CSCS infrastructure and carry out computational research. For about five years the CSCS has had the best computing performance in Europe and is currently one of the world’s leading centers in this sector: it is with these arguments that the Foundation Board motivates the choice of the winner of the award. The discussion will be held by Prof. Dr. med. Marco Baggiolini, former president and rector of the University of Italian Switzerland.

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