ESO Scientific Staff in Garching

See also the ESO Santiago Staff and Research page for scientific staff in Chile.


ESO Garching Faculty


Paola Andreani
Scientific interests:
  • Observational cosmology
  • Formation and evolution of galaxies and QSOs
  • Far infrared and submillimetric extragalactic backgrounds
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Magda Arnaboldi
Scientific interests:
  • Diffuse stellar population in galaxy clusters & intracluster planetary nebulae
  • Galaxy and galaxy cluster formation and evolution
  • Dynamics of early-type galaxies, mass content of galaxies, polarrings, properties of dark matter haloes
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Dietrich Baade
Scientific interests:
  • Pulsations and mass loss of early type stars
  • Light atomic elements in the interstellar medium
  • Late stages of stellar evolution
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Andy Biggs
Scientific interests:
  • Starburst galaxies
  • Gravitational lensing
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Mark Casali
Scientific interests:
  • Star formation and young stellar evolution
  • Magnetic fields on young stars
  • Infrared instrumentation
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Fernando Comeron

Scientific interests:
  • Very young stellar objects
  • Dynamics of the insterstellar medium
  • Galactic structure

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Personal home page


Thomas Dall
Scientific interests:
  • Stellar magnetic fields and activity
  • Planets, disks, and star-planet interactions
  • Stellar variability
  • Binary star evolution
  • High-resolution spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation / (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Carlos De Breuck
Scientific interests:
  • High redshift radio galaxies
  • Radio and millimetre interferometry
  • Radio surveys
  • Optical spectropolarimetry

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Personal home page


Tim de Zeeuw
Scientific interests:
  • Formation, structure and dynamics of galaxies, including the Galaxy
  • Star clusters and OB associations
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Sandro D'Odorico
Scientific interests:
  • Intergalactic medium at high redshifts
  • Primeval galaxies
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Adam Dobrzycki
Scientific interests:
  • Quasar surveys
  • X-ray surveys
  • Quasar absorption lines
  • Computational astronomy
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Robert Fosbury
Scientific interests:
  • AGN
  • High z galaxies
  • Polarimetry
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Wolfram Freudling
Scientific interests:
  • Observational cosmology
  • High-redshift galaxies and quasars
  • Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs)
  • Large Scale Structure and peculiar motion of galaxies
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Roberto Gilmozzi
Scientific interests:
  • Novae Supernovae
  • UV astronomy
  • Future Telescopes
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Preben Grosbøl
Scientific interests:
  • Stellar dynamics
  • Spiral galaxies
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Michael Hilker
Scientific interests:
  • Dwarf galaxies in galaxy clusters
  • Extragalactic globular clusters
  • Stellar populations
  • Element abundances of galactic globular clusters

Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Personal home page


Christian Hummel
Scientific interests:
  • Optical and near-IR interferometry
  • Double stars and stellar evolution
  • Star formation

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Personal home page


Gaitee Hussain
Scientific interests:
  • Magnetic activity in cool stars and stellar clusters
  • Optical, NIR and X-ray spectroscopy of stars and circumstellar environments
  • T Tauri and pre-main sequence stars
  • Stellar surface imaging

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation / (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Personal home page

Hans-Ulrich Käufl
Scientific interests:
  • Stellar evolution (post main sequence, RGB, AGB, post-AGB)
  • Star formation
  • Planetary and cometary atmospheres
  • Very high resolution imaging and interferometry
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Florian Kerber
Scientific interests:
  • Planetary nebulae
  • Late stages of stellar evolution
  • Stellar mass loss and interaction with the interstellar medium
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Markus Kissler-Patig
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Extragalactic globular cluster systems
  • Stellar populations
  • Galaxy dynamics

Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Personal home page


Harald Kuntschner
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Stellar populations of early-type galaxies
  • Extragalactic globular clusters
  • Integral-field spectroscopy

Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Personal home page


Robert Laing
Scientific interests:
  • Active galaxies, relativistic jets in extragalactic and galactic sources, synchrotron and inverse Compton emission, polarization and extragalactic magnetic fields, Faraday rotation, radio surveys.
  • Optical/IR telescopes; telescope control; aperture synthesis at cm, mm and sub-mm wavelengths.
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Bruno Leibundgut
Scientific interests:
  • Supernovae
  • QSO absorbers
  • Cosmology

Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Jochen Liske
Scientific interests:
  • Observational cosmology
  • Galaxy evolution
  • QSO absorption lines

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM / (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Marco Lombardi
Scientific interests:
  • Gravitational lensing
  • Cosmology
  • Dark molecular clouds

Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Vincenzo Mainieri
Scientific interests:
  • Multiwavelength properties of AGN and their SED (X-ray, optical, near-IR, sub-mm, radio)
  • Highly obscured (Compton thick) AGN
  • AGN properties as a function of the environment: field, groups, clusters of galaxies
  • high-redshift X-ray clusters of galaxies: their metallicities and AGN content
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Claudio Melo
Scientific interests:
  • Extra-solar planets
  • Young nearby associations
  • Star formation

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Personal home page


Sabine Mengel
Scientific interests:
  • Extragalactic star clusters
  • Interacting galaxies
  • NIR imaging/spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Sabine Moehler
Scientific interests:
  • Galactic globular clusters
  • Horizontal branch stars
  • Late stages of stellar evolution

Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Personal home page


Palle Møller
Scientific interests:
  • Damped Lyman-alpha Absorbers at high redshift
  • Dust at high redshift
  • Galaxy Formation and Evolution
  • Formation of Large Scale Structure
  • Redshift Evolution of the Fundamental Plane
  • Redshift Evolution of Core Properties of Elliptical Galaxies
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Guy Monnet
Scientific interests:
  • Nuclei of galaxies
  • Dynamics of galaxies
  • Instrumentation
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Alan Moorwood
Scientific interests:
  • AGN and starburst galaxies
  • High z galaxies
  • IR instrumentation
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Paolo Padovani
Scientific interests:
  • Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)
  • BL Lacertae Objects
  • X-ray Spectra of AGN
  • Blazar Surveys

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Personal home page


Luca Pasquini
Scientific interests:
  • Precision Spectroscopy, direct measurement of the cosmic acceleration
  • Light Element Abundances (Li and Be): Primordial Nucleosynthesis, Galactic Enrichment, Stellar Mixing
  • Globular Clusters: light elements anti-correlations
  • Chemical Abundance of stars in the local group, in clusters and in the field
  • Exo-Planets, planets around evolved stars
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation / (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Ferdinando Patat
Scientific interests:
  • Supernovae
  • Statistical Data Analysis
  • Monte Carlo Simulations

Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Personal home page


Monika Petr-Gotzens
Scientific interests:
  • Star formation
  • TTauri stars, Pre-main sequence binaries
  • Young stellar clusters
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Francesca Primas
Scientific interests:
  • Galactic chemical evolution
  • UV and optical astronomy
  • High-resolution spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Suzanne Ramsay
Scientific interests:
  • starf ormation in this and nearby galaxies
  • cirumstellar matter (disks, outflows)
  • near-infrared spectroscopy (particularly of H2)
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Marina Rejkuba
Scientific interests:
  • Resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies
  • Extragalactic globular clusters
  • Variable stars
  • Centaurus A = NGC 5128

Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Personal home page


Andrea Richichi
Scientific interests:
  • High angular resolution (interferometry, speckle, occultations)
  • Late-type giant stars (temperatures, dust shells)
  • Young stars (binaries, disks, halos)
  • Low-mass MS stars (binaries, temperatures, masses, brown dwarfs
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Martino Romaniello
Scientific interests:
  • Stellar populations in nearby Galaxies
  • Distance measurements
  • Star formation and early stellar evolution
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Michael Rosa
Scientific interests:
  • HII regions
  • Star formation
  • Nearby galaxies
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Piero Rosati
Scientific interests:
  • Observational cosmology
  • Formation and evolution of galaxies and clusters
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Markus Scholler
Scientific interests:
  • Optical Long Baseline Interferometry
  • Stellar magnetic fields
  • Star formation and stellar evolution
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Ralf Siebenmorgen
Scientific interests:
  • Physics of interstellar dust
  • IR/mm continuum: imaging
  • Formation of stars/galaxies

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Personal home page


Jason Spyromilio
Scientific interests:
  • Supvernovae, their use as distance indicators
  • IR spectroscopy
  • High resolution spectroscopy

Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Lowell Tacconi-Garman
Scientific interests:
  • Active Galactic Nuclei
  • Starburst Galaxies
  • Super Star Clusters
  • Adaptive Optics/NIR Imaging and Spectroscopy

Leonardo Testi
Scientific interests:
  • High mass star formation
  • Young (proto-)stellar clusters
  • Young brown dwarfs
  • Circumstellar disks and their evolution
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Gerard van Belle
Scientific interests:
  • Optical/near-IR interferometry
  • Stellar surface imaging
  • Microarcsecond astrometry

Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Personal home page


Mario van den Ancker
Scientific interests:
  • Star Formation
  • Protoplanetary Disks
  • Infra red Spectroscopy

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Personal home page


Eelco van Kampen
Scientific interests:
  • The formation and evolution of galaxies
  • High-redshift galaxies and galaxy clusters
  • Cosmological simulations
  • Gravitational lensing

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM / (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Joël Vernet
Scientific interests:
  • High redshift galaxies and AGN
  • Kinematics of distant galaxies
  • Polarimetry

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Personal home page


Jeremy Walsh
Scientific interests:
  • Planetary nebulae
  • HII regions
  • Polarimetry
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Thomas L. Wilson
Scientific interests:
  • Star formation
  • Millimeter and submillimeter radio astronomy
  • Isotope determinations
  • The center of our galaxy

Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Personal home page


Markus Wittkowski
Scientific interests:
  • Optical interferometry
  • Stellar surfaces
  • AGN

Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Personal home page


Bodo Ziegler
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation & evolution
  • Clusters of galaxies
  • Cosmology

Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations / (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM / (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Martin Zwaan
Scientific interests:
  • Cool gas in galaxies
  • Relation between QSO absorption lines and galaxies
  • HI mass functions, luminosity functions

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Personal home page

ESO Garching Fellows


Giuseppina Battaglia
Scientific interests:
  • Resolved stellar populations
  • Mass content and chemical properties of (dwarf) galaxies
  • Local Group
  • Low resolution spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Stéphane Blondin
Scientific interests:
  • Supernova spectra (theory and observations)
  • Cosmology with supernovae
  • Spectral restoration and cross-correlation algorithms

Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution / (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Lise Christensen
Scientific interests:
  • Gamma Ray Burst hosts
  • Damped Lyman Alpha systems
  • AGN environments
  • Galaxy Evolution
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Gayandhi De Silva
Scientific interests:
  • Galactic chemical evolution
  • Open clusters and moving groups
  • High resolution spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Jörg Dietrich
Scientific interests:
  • Gravitational Lensing, Galaxy Clusters
  • Observational Cosmology

Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Personal home page


Michaela Doellinger
Scientific interests:
  • High resolution spectroscopy
  • Light elements abundances
  • Radial velocity variances in K giants
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Gaël James
Scientific interests:
  • Galactic chemical evolution
  • Chemical abundances in globular clusters
  • Metal-poor stars
  • High-resolution spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Pamela Klaassen
Scientific interests:
  • High mass star formation
  • Molecular gas kinematics
  • Outflow and infall from HII regions
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Heidi Korhonen
Scientific interests:
  • Stellar activity, especially starspots and stellar activity cycles
  • Stellar surface imaging
  • Dynamo theory, especially comparison of observations to theoretical calculations
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Silvia Leurini
Scientific interests:
  • Early stages of massive star formation
  • Molecular clouds
  • Molecules in the galactic center
  • Millimeter and submillimeter astronomy
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Nadine Neumayer
Scientific interests:
  • Co-evolution of black holes and galaxies
  • Centres of galaxies
  • Active galactic nuclei
  • Black hole mass modelling
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Suzanna Randall
Scientific interests:
  • Asteroseismology
  • Pulsating stars
  • Subdwarf B stars
  • Late stages of stellar evolution
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Thomas Stanke
Scientific interests:
  • Star formation
  • Protostellar outflows and jets
  • Protostellar disks
  • High-mass protostars
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Masayuki Tanaka
Scientific interests:
  • Environmental dependence of galaxy properties
  • Galaxy evolution
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Paula Teixeira
Scientific interests:
  • Fragmentation of filamentary clouds and prestellar cores
  • Protostellar binaries
  • Protoplanetary disk evolution
  • Debris disks
  • Brown dwarves
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Sune Toft
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • High redshift galaxies
  • High redshift clusters of galaxies
  • Stellar populations
  • Morphologies
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Bram Venemans
Scientific interests:
  • Observational cosmology
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • High redshift radio galaxies and quasars
  • Emission line galaxies
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmolgogy and the Early Universe

ESO Garching Students


Fatmé Allouche
Scientific interests:
  • Instrumentation, especially interferometers and coronographs
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Brigitta Eder
Scientific interests:
  • ACS Slitless Spectra

Lu Feng
Scientific interests:
  • Adaptive Optics automatic control part, its standard hardware and software platform design

Audrey Galametz
Scientific interests:
  • High redshift galaxy clusters
  • Active Galactic Nuclei
  • Formation and evolution of distant galaxies
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Camilla Juul Hansen
Scientific interests:
  • Galactic chemical evolution
  • Supernovae
  • Nucleosynthetic processes
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Frank Heymann
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy cluster study
  • Modelling radiation transfer
  • AGN
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Yara Jaffé Ribbi
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Environment
  • Galaxy dynamics
  • Stellar populations
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Behrang Jalali
Scientific interests:
  • Globular Clusters
  • Black Holes
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Iva Karovicova
Scientific interests:
  • Variable stars
  • Pulsating atmospheres and mass loss of late type stars
  • Cataclysmic variable
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Karin Lind
Scientific interests:
  • Stellar abundances in globular clusters
  • Stellar atmospheres and evolution
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Mariya Lyubenova
Scientific interests:
  • Formation and evolution of galaxies
  • Stellar populations in elliptical galaxies
  • Infrared spectroscopy
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations / (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Ingo Misgeld
Scientific interests:
  • Dwarf galaxies in nearby clusters
  • The nature of Ultra Compact Dwarf galaxies
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Carolina Nunez
Scientific interests:
  • High redshift clusters of galaxies
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Elliptical galaxies
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Tania Penuela
Scientific interests:
  • Observational cosmology
  • High z galaxies
  • Galaxy and star formation and evolution
Research Area(s): (5) Cosmology and the Early Universe

Anna Raiter
Scientific interests:
  • Emission nebulae at high redshift
  • Population III stars
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Luca Ricci
Scientific interests:
  • Protoplanetary disks and their evolution
  • Star formation
  • Young binary stellar systems
Research Area(s): (1) Planets and Star Formation

Gina Santangelo
Scientific interests:
  • Millimeter characteristics of galactic and extragalactic starbursts
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Zhixia Shen
Scientific interests:
  • Scientific goals of ELT
  • Extrasolar planet systems
  • Star clusters
  • Stellar populations
  • Stellar spectroscopic analysis
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Cezary Szyszka
Scientific interests:
  • Optical and infrared spectroscopy
  • Integral Field Unit Spectroscopy (IFU)
  • Evolved stars (AGB> post AGB > PNe), especially velocity field of Planetary Nebulae (PNe)
Research Area(s): (2) Stellar Structure and Evolution

Giulia Ventimiglia
Scientific interests:
  • Kinematics and origin of the diffuse light components in clusters of galaxies
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Postdocs hosted at ESO

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Annalisa Calamida
Scientific interests:
  • Globular clusters
  • Stellar evolution
  • Crowded field photometry
  • Data reduction techniques
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Cristiano da Rocha
Scientific interests:
  • Compact groups of galaxies
  • Dynamical evolution in groups of galaxies
  • Galaxy interaction
  • Wavelet image analysis
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Szymon Gladysz
Scientific interests:
  • Direct detection of exoplanets
  • Image processing
  • Extreme adaptive optics
Personal home page

Evanthia Hatziminaoglou
Scientific interests:
  • Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN)
  • Infrared extragalactic astronomy
  • Extragalactic Surveys

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Personal home page


Ana Monreal
Scientific interests:
  • Integral field spectroscopy
  • Starburst galaxies, including (U)LIRGs, BCDs
  • Planetary nebulae
Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Daniela Villegas Mansilla
Scientific interests:
  • Galaxy formation and evolution
  • Stellar populations
  • Extragalactic globular cluster systems
Research Area(s): (3) Stellar Populations

Aybüke Küpcü Yoldas
Scientific interests:
  • Gamma-ray Bursts
  • High redshift galaxies
  • AGN

Research Area(s): (4) Evolution of Galaxies and the ISM

Personal home page