Physicist Awarded the Faculty of Science's Doctoral Thesis Award 2016
The Faculty of Science’s prize for best doctoral thesis 2016 goes to Jonas Einarsson from the Department of Physics. Einarsson’s research focuses on how small particles are transported in our surroundings.
The world is full of small particles. There are bacteria, virus and plankton, and all of them affect the health of both humans and our planet. Earth’s atmosphere contains smoke emissions with an abundance of soot particles, and the manufacturing industry uses small particles to make materials stronger and give chemical products and foods the right texture.
‘It is therefore important to understand how particles affect their surroundings and how the surroundings transport particles. This is an important key to our ability to understand the life of microorganisms, protect ourselves from air pollution and develop new materials,’ says Einarsson.
Equations describe the particles
But the fundamental equations that describe how particles move in gases and liquids are so complex even supercomputers often have problems with them.
‘Our job in theoretical fluid mechanics is to invent new, simpler equations that can describe the dynamics of the small particles. Our simplified equations often become building blocks of large computer-based models that help us understand particles in our environment,’ says Einarsson.
This year Einarsson is continuing his research at Stanford University as part of a research team that is world leading in applying the fundamental equations in large-scale computer simulations.
‘It will be very exciting to take part in the next step and apply the fundamental research,’ he says.
Innovative research acknowledged
The Faculty of Science’s prize for best doctoral thesis is awarded for successful and innovative research that is presented in a well-written thesis. The author receives a diploma and an award.
The Faculty of Science explains the decision to award Einarsson the prize for best doctoral thesis 2016 as follows:
‘In his doctoral thesis titled Angular dynamics of small particles in fluids, Jonas Einarsson unveils the solution to a central problem in the field of fluid dynamics. By using advanced perturbation theory, his results provide answers to long asked questions and help revise previous theories. This is reported in a remarkably well-written doctoral thesis. The thesis is structured in an easy-to-follow manner and presents the research in a larger context. Jonas Einarsson’s research has culminated in an outstanding thesis.”
Einarsson will receive the prize in connection with the Faculty Day in November 2016.
Photo: Rasmus Einarsson