Meet some of our researchers

There was no money, political support or marketing budget. But that didn’t stop Aleksandar Matic from spearheading efforts to get Europe’s new facility for neutron scattering placed in Sweden. And now the giant European Spallation Source facility, ESS, is being built outside of Lund.

It’s fair to say, I think, that Göteborg is a town of excellent viewing spots and one summery Monday morning I learn that Thomas Nilsson’s office is one of them. Prior to his current position as a professor at the Division of Subatomic and Plasma Physics at the Department of Physics at Chalmers, he worked at CERN. Currently, he is heavily involved in building a whole new facility for particle research in Germany. I probably don’t need to convince you that Thomas has a soft spot for large experimental facilities. 

​She’s a professor of applied quantum physics, a mother of three and speaks five languages. As the leader of the interdisciplinary Nano Excellence Initiative, Janine Splettstoesser now wants to create one of Europe's top nano-centers with the goal of addressing the biggest challenges facing the society. But when it comes to the proudest career moments, she’d rather speak about her students. "When a PhD student gives a really good defense on their dissertation and can continue to work on what they really like and subsequently grow as a researcher. That makes me really proud.”​

At nine years old, she was obsessed with horses and science fiction. Now she conducts research focused on horses and astrophysics. Maria Sundin, associate professor of theoretical physics at University of Gothenburg, turned her passions into a job. She has also opened the door to the world of physics for many who didn’t even know they were looking for it.

Imagine that you gathered together all the sunlight that falls on the earth and concentrated it all at the end of a single hair. That beam would still be weaker than the laser beams that Professor Mattias Marklund uses in his research at the Department of Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

Catalysts are needed to trigger chemical reactions. We have all heard of catalytic converters in cars. However, catalysts have countless of uses in society, as well as many other parts of life. For Professor Henrik Grönbeck, the year he spent in Berlin completing his master’s degree in 1990 was a catalyst. As the Wall came down and Germany reunited, he started his research career.

He rides his bike to his sailing boat in the marina and doesn’t own a car. But much of his work involves paving the way for hydrogen vehicles’ breakthrough. Physics professor Christoph Langhammer at Chalmers is developing hydrogen gas sensors that will hopefully help to get us there. In his work, he gets to know the smallest individuals that can make this possible.

Quorn, tzay, tofu... The products meant to replace standard meat are usually vegetarian. But you can also grow meat from muscle cells. Chalmers’ professor Julie Gold’s research has made headlines far outside Sweden’s borders. But she’s got more in her cornucopia of knowledge than cultured meat.

Every time you upload an image to Facebook or surf wirelessly on your phone, you use them. Every time physics professor Johan Åkerman goes to work, he wants to improve them. “They” are magnetic hard drives, RAM memories and microwave oscillators that store, process and transfer information. They are fundamental cornerstones of our information society.

Meeting Tünde Fülöp means that you will likely feel as if you just had an injection of energy and inspiration. Tünde is professor at the Division of Subatomic and Plasma Physics at the Department of Physics at Chalmers. Uniting the qualities of an outstanding scientist and an empathetic leader she is currently head of a group consisting of 13 members.

Every summer holiday when he was on a caravanning holiday with his parents, he successfully lobbied for a visit to a nuclear power plant. He managed to secure a placement to do his national service at Chalmers: a civilian service position on a reactor research project.  Physics professor Christophe Demazière became fascinated with nuclear power early on in life.  It all started with a summer holiday book. ​

The fall of the Soviet Union made him question the value of a science education. But he found his way back to physics via Brazil and from there made his way to Gothenburg via France and Germany. Alexandre Dmitriev is used to crossing borders between nations – and between separate disciplines such as light and magnetism. “Being a researcher is fantastic! I’m constantly amazed at how exciting the things we do are.”​

She conducts research into wear-resistant materials which withstand heavy loads at high temperatures. Those who know the Chalmers researcher Lena Falk know that she herself is also made of tough stuff. That is something she may have benefited from during her long career in the academic world.

Electric cars and other battery-powered vehicles are a red-hot topic in the current debate. How can we make the transition to a sustainable transport system and what is actually best for the environment? An expert who is often engaged in this connection is Chalmers professor Patrik Johansson, who a little reluctantly also goes under the name of the ‘battery doctor’. He will happily hit back in a vigorous debate against both fake news and wishful thinking. He will also happily hit a shuttlecock as well.

A major reason why the German-born, now double citizenship holding, new professor of experimental atomic and molecular physics at the University of Gothenburg, Raimund Feifel, has decided to stay in Sweden, is our equality. Already as an exchange student in Uppsala, he felt very comfortable with how people on different levels, like a professor and a janitor, could converse with one another and have common coffee breaks.

Hadn’t it been for buying a house outside Göteborg hours before he got a professorship in Oslo we would probably not have had Bengt E W Nilsson, professor in mathematical physics, at Chalmers.

- Studying sophisticated materials structures in a microscope and exploring the correlation between structure and properties, even reaching the precision of individual atoms, it's like an eternity, a universe to marvel, Eva reflects. For Eva Olsson there is such a fascination and joy in the research that she spontaneously keeps on exploring.

On a sunny Tuesday morning, I am waiting in front of Mikael Käll’s office. He appears just a minute later, casually dressed as usual. Mikael is professor in the Division of Bionanophotonics at the Department of Physics and one of the most successful physics researchers at Chalmers. He suggests a more inviting place for the interview and we settle down in one of the freshly furbished meeting rooms next to the physics' kitchen with a coffee in our hands. 

He pauses for, what seem like, a long time after my casual first question; “so, what are you working on now?” and I am about to rephrase and narrow it down when the answer comes. Long, well articulated and calmly pedagogical. Fredrik Höök, professor in Biological Physics at Chalmers University of Technology, talks about the complexity of life as something he can physically feel.