Wolfgang Peter Schleich

Wolfgang Peter Schleich, Chair-Professor of Theoretical Physics, Universitat Ulm, is a theoretical physicist with a 40 year career of demonstrated leadership and groundbreaking research. He is most well-known for providing the theoretical support for the Bose-Einstein condensate on a chip sounding rocket experiments.

Schleich received a Diplom Physik and Ph.D. in Physics from the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany, in 1981 and 1984 respectively. During his Ph.D. work, he studied for a year with Dr. Marlan O. Scully in the United States. He became a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Theoretical Physics in Austin, Texas, USA upon completion of his Ph.D. In 1989, he received the Dr. rer. nat. habil. at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany. Before joining the Universitat Ulm in 1991, he worked with Herbert Walther at the Max- Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik.

In 2019 he established the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Quantum Technologies, which pursues fundamental precision measurements with cold atoms, Bose-Einstein condensates, and atom interferometers in micro-gravity. He leads this center as Acting Director.

Schleich is active in the community, serving as a reviewer for numerous scientific journals and funding agencies, as a member and participant in his professional societies, and as an editor and speaker. He is organizer or co-organizer of 35 international conferences on quantum optics. His many awards include the Personal Medal of the Cardinal of Duka, the Archbishop of Prague; the Equal Opportunity Award of Universitat Ulm; the Medal of the Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering of Czech Technical University; the Willis E. Lamb Award and others. He is a Fellow of OSA, the Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the European Optical Society; an elected member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea; and an Honorary member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He received the Herbert Walther Award in 2021.