Thomas Henning

Thomas Henning ( born April 9, 1956 in Jena ) is a German astrophysicist. Since 2001 he is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. He is an expert in the field of star and planet formation.

Scientific Work

Hennings work area is the star and planet formation. We mainly focus on the observation and modeling of protoplanetary disks around young stars - an early stage in the evolution of planetary systems. In this context, Henning also explores the properties of interstellar dust and, more generally, the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium, both theoretically and by means of laboratory astrophysics and observational astronomy. His observation focus is in the infrared and submillimeter astronomy.

Henning was and is involved in a number of major research projects, the construction of instruments for ESA's Herschel space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope and the telescopes of the European Southern Observatory, the construction of the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona, at the Spitzer Legacy project " formation of Planetary Systems", at several Herschel legacy projects, the Pan - STARRS survey and the HAT- South transit Network. He is a member of a number of astronomical steering and advisory committees, including the ESO Council, the CAHA boards, the Board of Directors of LBT and of PS1, the Scientific Advisory Board of the Thuringian State Observatory Tautenburg.

Biography

Henning studied physics and mathematics with emphasis on plasma physics at the University of Greifswald and then astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Jena, where he was his doctorate in 1984. Hennings doctor father was Karl -Heinz Schmidt. Following a stay as a postdoctoral fellow at the Charles University in Prague (1984-1985) returned Henning returned to Jena, where he was from 1986 to 1988 Assistant Professor at the University Observatory and his habilitation in 1989. Subsequently (1989-1990) he was a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn and a guest lecturer at the University of Cologne (1991). In the same year Hennig returned to the University of Jena, where he " dust in star-forming regions " acted as head of the Max Planck working group to 1996 and 1992 was also a professor.

In 1999 Henning received at the University of Jena, a professor of astrophysics, which he held until 2002, and became director of the Astrophysical Institute and University Observatory. In addition, in 2000 he was a member of the Leopoldina and took a visiting professorship at the University of Amsterdam true. From 2000 to 2007 he was co-speaker of the DFG research group " Laboratory Astrophysics" in Chemnitz and Jena. Since 2001 Henning Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, where he heads the department of "Planet and Star Formation "; he is still a professor at Jena and since 2003 also an honorary professor at the University of Heidelberg.

In his honor got the Asteroid 30882 named " Tomhenning ".