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11.12.2025 11:24

Passionately curious - TU Professor Christian Hasse from TU Darmstadt receives Leibniz Prize

Silke Paradowski Science Communication Centre - Abteilung Kommunikation
Technische Universität Darmstadt

Darmstadt, December 11, 2025. The German Research Foundation (DFG) has awarded TU Professor Christian Hasse the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize. The award is worth 2.5 million euros and is considered the most important and most highly endowed German research prize. The DFG is thus recognising Hasse's achievements in the field of reactive thermofluid dynamics. His work opens up new knowledge-based paths for a climate-neutral energy future.

In his work, Christian Hasse opens new knowledge-based pathways toward a carbon-neutral energy future – a decisive contribution to addressing the global climate crisis and advancing the decarbonisation of energy systems. Through pioneering mathematical models and advanced numerical methods for high-resolution simulations of three-dimensional, unsteady, and reactive flows on supercomputers, he sets benchmarks. His research combines thermofluid dynamics with high-performance computing, materials science, and chemistry, exploring uncharted scientific territory at the interfaces of these disciplines.
As an engineer, the professor of mechanical engineering combines practical challenges with scientific curiosity, for example by researching how turbulence affects the structure and stability of hydrogen flames. At TU Darmstadt, Hasse is working very successfully on modelling and simulating innovative energy conversion processes. His current research focuses on hydrogen and metals as carbon-free energy sources. He was the first scientist to develop and validate flamelet models for the reaction zone structure of unstable hydrogen flames and uses them in a pioneering way in his simulations. Christian Hasse and his team are among the few groups worldwide that have qualified to use Europe's first exascale supercomputer, ‘JUPITER’. Their ongoing direct numerical simulations decipher the complex dynamics of lean turbulent hydrogen flames on nanosecond and micrometer scales under realistic operating conditions. This research provides key insights into safety-critical phenomena such as flame flashback and lays the foundation for the safe and efficient operation of future CO₂-free hydrogen gas turbines.
Christian Hasse has also successfully established himself as an outstanding scientist in research on metals as recyclable energy carriers. As the initiator and leader of the interdisciplinary joint project ‘Clean Circles’, which brings together more than 20 principal investigators, he is significantly advancing this dynamically growing field of research. He systematically combines his excellent disciplinary research with materials science and chemistry. Christian Hasse's international leadership position is also evidenced by the ERC Advanced Grant ‘A-STEAM’ (Aluminum steam combustion for clean energy), in which he is investigating the thermofluid dynamic fundamentals of the reaction of aluminium particles with steam – an innovative and highly promising approach to the clean generation of high-temperature heat and hydrogen.
Christian Hasse's enthusiasm for science and his determination to conduct cutting-edge research also shape his role as a mentor and supporter. Since 2010, he has supervised several dozen successful doctoral theses. Six of his former doctoral and postdoctoral students have also taken up professorships in the last five years.
TU President Professor Tanja Brühl: "I would like to congratulate Christian Hasse on receiving the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for 2026. Christian Hasse's work is a shining and inspiring example of our mission as a technical university. With his research, he is forging new ground for the world of tomorrow and making a significant contribution to tackling the major challenges of change on the path to a climate-neutral energy future – driven by great curiosity and lively interdisciplinary cooperation. I look forward to more visionary solutions that will have a tangible impact."
Professor Matthias Oechsner, Vice-President for Research: “I am delighted that Christian Hasse has received this prestigious award for his innovative research in the field of energy process engineering. It acknowledges the scientific excellence with which he exemplarily combines basic research with application-oriented research. I warmly congratulate Christian Hasse on this great success. We are proud to have him as a colleague at TU Darmstadt.”
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize has been awarded annually since 1986 by the DFG to scientists working in Germany in a wide range of disciplines. Up to ten prizes worth up to 2.5 million euros each can be awarded per year. For the 2026 prizes, ten scientists from 144 nominations were selected today by the Main Committee of the German Research Foundation. The prize money can be used by the winners for their research work according to their own ideas and without bureaucratic effort.
The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony next March.

About Christian Hasse
Christian Hasse has been head of the Simulation of Reactive Thermo-Fluid Systems group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at TU Darmstadt since 2017. After studying at RWTH Aachen University and the University of California, Davis (USA), and completing his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University, he initially worked in industry – including as research and development engineer at the BMW Group in Munich – before returning to fundamental research at TU Bergakademie Freiberg. As one of the leading international scientists in the field of reactive thermofluid dynamics, he has published numerous high-profile articles, is the editor of renowned scientific journals and a member of professional associations and academic committees. His research has received several awards, most recently in 2024, when the European Research Council (ERC) selected his project ‘A-STEAM’ for funding with an Advanced Grant.

Previous Leibniz Prize winners at TU Darmstadt
• Professor Dr. Frank Steglich (Festkörperphysik, 1986)
• Professor Dr. Bernd Giese (Organische Chemie, 1987)
• Professor Dr. Johannes Buchmann (Informatik, 1993)
• Professor Dr. Thomas Weiland (Elektrotechnik, 1998)
• Professor Dr. Jürgen Rödel (Materialwissenschaft, 2009)
• Professor Dr. Andreas Dreizler (Maschinenbau, 2014)
• Professor Dr. Gabriel Martínez-Pinedo (Physik, 2021)

Photo Download: https://www.bildermedien.tu-darmstadt.de/fotoweb/albums/aTmUx7g1QQvGCOwB/

About TU Darmstadt

TU Darmstadt is one of Germany’s leading technical universities and a synonym for excellent, relevant research. We are crucially shaping global transformations – from the energy transition via Industry 4.0 to artificial intelligence – with outstanding insights and forward-looking study opportunities. TU Darmstadt pools its cutting-edge research in three fields: Energy and Environment (E+E), Information and Intelligence (I+I), Matter and Materials (M+M). Our problem-based interdisciplinarity as well as our productive interaction with society, business and politics generate progress towards sustainable development worldwide.
Since we were founded in 1877, we have been one of Germany’s most international universities; as a European technical university, we are developing a trans-European campus in the network, “Unite!”. With our partners in the alliance of Rhine-Main universities – Goethe University Frankfurt and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz – we further the development of the metropolitan region Frankfurt-Rhine-Main as a globally attractive science location.

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Professor Christian Hasse
Quelle: Patrick Bal / TU Darmstadt
Copyright: Patrick Bal / TU Darmstadt

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