Karl Schuster

Karl Schuster is the Director of the Institute for Millimeter Radio Astronomy (IRAM) in Grenoble and an external scientific member of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE), appointed in February 2014. He has made significant contributions to millimeter and submillimeter astronomy through detector and receiver systems development and the NOEMA project.

Dr. Schuster received his doctorate from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1993. After completing his PhD, he joined IRAM as a staff member and became head of the Superconductor Detector Laboratory, where he advanced the development of detectors for the millimeter and submillimeter range.

His primary research interests include millimeter and submillimeter astronomy, detector and receiver systems development, and astronomical instrumentation. Dr. Schuster has been instrumental in the development of the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer, which has been the world's leading millimeter observatory for over a decade. His research has focused on studying molecular gas in nearby galaxies and understanding the relationship between gas and star formation. He has also contributed detector technology used by other major observatories including Herschel and ALMA.

As head of the NOEMA project and Director of IRAM since 2013, Dr. Schuster is leading the upgrade of the Plateau de Bure interferometer to include 12 antennas and improved receivers, ensuring its position as a leading observatory for astronomical research. The IRAM 30-meter telescope, equipped with the HERA array he developed, continues to be a vital instrument for studying molecular gas in galaxies.