Hartmut Lwen

Hartmut Löwen, born on May 23, 1963, in Hamm, Germany, is a physicist specializing in statistical mechanics and soft matter physics. He studied at the Technical University of Dortmund, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1987 under Bernd Gerlach, focusing on phase transitions in Polaron systems. With Gerlach, he demonstrated that many phonon systems, including polaron systems, do not exhibit phase transitions, challenging previous assumptions.

Löwen held postdoctoral positions at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich and École normale supérieure de Lyon. He became a full professor at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in 1995 and has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Cambridge and Sapienza University of Rome.

His research spans statistical physics, colloidal suspensions, polymer physics, self-propelled particles, biological macromolecules, glass transition, melting processes, liquid crystals, and polaron systems. He received notable awards, including the Heisenberg grant and Gerhard Hess Prize in 1994 and the Gentner-Kastler-Preis in 2003.

Löwen has authored significant publications, such as "Active Particles in Complex and Crowded Environments" (Reviews of Modern Physics, 2016) and "Dynamical Clustering and Phase Separation in Suspensions of Self-Propelled Colloidal Particles" (Physical Review Letters, 2013), contributing to the understanding of active matter and phase transitions. His work has advanced fields like soft condensed matter physics and statistical mechanics.