Frank Saueressig’s research aims to unify Einstein’s theory of general relativity with the principles of quantum mechanics, a field known as quantum gravity. His primary focus is on the gravitational asymptotic safety program. Essentially, Saueressig’s group seeks to understand what happens when space and time themselves start to “wiggle” and “fluctuate” on a quantum level. Saueressig is also excited about understanding the resulting consequences for the working of black holes and the evolution of the universe. In the future, he will also explore consequences of asymptotic safety for the standard model of particle physics.
Uniting general relativity and quantum mechanics in a single theory may just be the step that brings our fundamental understanding of Nature to the next level. If you are looking for conceptual and computational challenges in physics, this is a fascinating place to start.
About Frank Saueressig
Prof. Dr. Frank Saueressig (1975, Bad Kreuznach, Germany) started his academic career at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz (Germany), where he obtained a Master’s degree in Physics in 2001. He continues his studies at the Friedrich-Schiller Universität Jena (Germany) in 2004 to conduct his doctoral research. In 2004, he completed his PhD thesis (summa cum laude) titled Topological phase transitions in Calabi-Yau compactifications of M-theory, which focussed on a timely question in string theory. The thesis clarified whether microscopic spacetime dimensions possessing spacetime singularities are dynamically preferred when reducing the theory from 11 to 5 spacetime dimensions.
Saueressig then started at the University of Utrecht as postdoctoral researcher and Marie-Curie fellow in 2004. In 2007, he started working as postdoctoral researcher at IPhT Saclay and IHES Bur-Sur-Yvette (France). In 2013, he returned to the Netherlands, where he worked as assistant professor at the Radboud University. He was appointed associate professor in 2018.
Throughout his career, Saueressig has received various rewards and grants, such as the Emmy-Noether grant (DFG, 2009), as well as the Teaching Award for best physics lecture (IMAPP, 2014 & 2019).