Prof. Dr. Til Birnstiel
Professor for theoretical astrophysics
Faculty of Physics
Skip to content
CV
- since 2017
- Professor for theoretical astrophysics
at the LMU Munich - 2015-2017
- Postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy
in Heidelberg, Germany
with Hubert Klahr - 2013-2015
- Postdoc at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
in Cambridge, MA, USA
with Sean Andrews - 2011-2012
- Postdoc at LMU Munich & the Excellence Cluster 'Universe'
with Barbara Ercolano - 2010-2011
- Postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy
in Heidelberg, Germany
with Kees Dullemond - 2007-2010
- PhD in Astrophysics at the University of Heidelberg
and the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy
Supervisor: Kees Dullemond - 2007-2008
- Master of Science in Physics an der State University of New York
in Albany, NY
with Kevin Knuth - 2003-2006
- Undergraduate (2005) und Graduate Studies of Physik
at the University of Würzburg, Germany
Prizes and Awards
- 2023
- ERC Consolidator Grant 2023
2 Million Euro funding for the project EarlyBird. - 2023
- Highly Cited Scientists 2023
The ranking "Highly Cited Scientists" by Clarivate ranked Til Birnstiel in the category "Space Science". They state: "Of the world’s population of scientists and social scientists, Highly Cited Researchers™ are 1 in 1,000."
LMU Press Release - 2023
- New Horizons in Physics Breakthrough Prize
awarded by the Breakthrough Foundation, together with Prof. Nienke van der Marel, Prof. Paola Pinilla, and Prof. Laura Pérez for "the prediction, discovery, and modeling of dust traps in young circumstellar disks, solving a long-standing problem in planet formation." - 2020
- Astrophysical Software Award 2020
awarded by the German Astronomical Society "for the software he developed for modelling the temporal and spatial evolution of dust in protoplanetary disks."
Origins Cluster Press Release - 2017
- ERC Starting Grant
1.4 Millionen Euro funding for the project DustPrints.
Public Outreach
Til Birnstiel organizes the Munich Physics Colloquium together with colleagues from TUM. He is committed to equal opportunities, supervises school interns and holds lectures for the public, teacher training courses and more.
Recording of the talk "Formation of the Planets" (in German) in the Deutsches Museum
He also contributes to radio and television with fact checks, expert statements and interviews, including on radio stations B2, B5, Süddeutsche Zeitung (article 1, article 2) and BR television and to TV documentaries.
Funded by an Origins Cluster Seed Project, he developed open source software to 3D-print astrophysical datasets for outreach and teaching.
Teaching
Til Birnstiel regularly gives Master's lectures in the field of planet formation and planetary astrophysics, the lecture "Essentials of Modern Astrophysics" and the introductory lecture for Bachelor's students "Astrophysics 1". He also supervises students in seminar presentations as well as Master's and Bachelor's theses and is involved in the Physics trial studies programme.
Sign-up for lectures and seminars is done via the LSF and course-related communication via Moodle.