Chris Ormel winner of Van Swinderen Prize

The Van Swinderen Prize 2009 is awarded to the astronomer Chris W. Ormel. This award of the Royal Physical Society in Groningen is assigned yearly to the best Dutch abstract of a PhD thesis at the Faculty of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the Faculty Mathematics and Natural Sciences) or at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Groningen. With the prize comes a certificate and 2250 euros. The presentation of the prize will take place on January 19, 2010 preceding the lecture of the Royal Physical Society in Images, Poelestraat 30, in Groningen.

The Van Swinderen Prize will be presented for the 18^th time. It was created by the Royal Physical Society in Groningen in 1991. The chairman of the jury is Prof. dr. A.J. Moshage.
As criterion applies that the Dutch abstract on the one hand gives a right image of the contents of the thesis and on the other hand is understandable for non-experts. The title of Ormels thesis is
"The early stages of planet formation: how to grow from small to large".

Dr. Chris W. Ormel (Tunesia, 1981) studied astronomy, graduated cum laude in 2004 at the University of Groningen, and finished his PhD thesis on October 10, 2008 at the Kapteyn Institute of the University. The promotors were Prof. dr. A.G.G.M. Tielens and Prof. dr. M.C. Spaans. In 2008 the Dutch Organization of Scientific Research (NOW) awarded him a Rubicon grant (for promising scientists). At present he works as a post-doc at the Max-Planck- Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg.