Prix Schläfli 2020 for the best four PhDs in science

Alice Berhin discovered a completely new structure of plant roots in her dissertation at the University of Lausanne – a 21st century sensation. In his dissertation at the University of Basel, Oliver Müller showed that dwarf galaxies can also move around their parent galaxies in an orderly fashion, thus challenging the standard model of cosmology. In his dissertation at ETH Zurich, Robert Pollice analysed how materials such as perfluoroalkanes, including Teflon, hold together – a first step towards reducing environmental pollution and health risks. In his dissertation at the University of Bern, Fabian Rey described the land use and vegetation history of the Burgäschi and Moos lakes from the Bernese region of the Swiss Plateau more precisely than ever before. For this purpose, he analysed hundreds of thousands of pollen grains.

The Prix Schläfli is awarded annually to the four best dissertations in the natural sciences. This prize has been awarded since 1866. Since 2019, Switzerland's candidates for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting are now also nominated from among the candidates for the Schläfli Prize award. The annual event is attended by 30 to 40 Nobel Prize winners, who hold discussions with young researchers. The meeting planned for 2020 was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.