Eberhard Bodenschatz

Prof. Dr. Eberhard Bodenschatz is a Professor of Physics at the University of Göttingen and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-ds). He holds adjunct professorships at Cornell University in both Physics and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. His research focuses on the physics of dynamics and self-organization in biological, environmental, and fluid systems, including synthetic biology, medical physics, turbulence, and atmospheric processes. He has held academic positions at Cornell University since 1992, advancing from Assistant to Full Professor, and has led the MPI-ds since 2003.

Education:

• 1985: Diploma in Physics (minor: Polymer Chemistry), University of Bayreuth
• 1989: Doctoral Thesis in Theoretical Physics, University of Bayreuth

Research Interests:

• Bottom-Up Synthetic Biology: Engineering bio-synthetic cilia and directed transport networks in biological systems.
• Medical Physics: Investigating heart mechanics, muscle contraction, and soft tissue dynamics.
• Turbulence: Studying fully developed turbulent flows in fluids and their statistical properties.
• Atmospheric Physics: Modeling respiratory aerosols and their role in disease transmission.

Publications: Recent work spans interdisciplinary topics such as curvotaxis in cells, cardiac pressure-volume models, and aerosol-driven disease spread. His research bridges fundamental physics with applications in medicine and environmental science.

Affiliations: Bodenschatz is affiliated with the GGNB programs in Physics of Biological and Complex Systems, Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience, Genome Science, and Molecular Medicine. He has led the CPTS as Chair (2014–2017) and contributed to the MPI Senate.