Researcher who studies the death throes of stars

Supernovae are gigantic stellar explosions that can be seen across the entire universe. Type Ia supernovae are a class of stellar explosions in which so-called white dwarfs explode. Researchers can use these as indicators for observing the acceleration of the universe and as cosmological distance indicators.
Astrophysicist Maximilian Stritzinger – newly appointed associate professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy – works within this field of research. He focuses particularly on the physics behind the supernovae to gain an understanding of how the stars die. He is currently working on his own project at a number of observatories in the Chilean Andes – including the European Southern Observatory, the twin Magellan telescopes at the Las Campanas Observatory and the Gemini South telescope.
Associate Professor Stritzinger was born in 1975 in Michigan, USA. He completed his PhD in 2005 at TUM (Technische Universität München), Germany. Since 2000, he has spent periods in five countries on three continents, providing him with access to relevant study environments and research groups. He is now looking forward to settling in Aarhus and strengthening the department’s focus on observational cosmology and extragalactic astrophysics.