Professor Dr. Peter E. Blöchl is a distinguished theoretical physicist renowned for his foundational contributions to computational materials science. He currently serves as Professor and Research Director in the Department of Applied Theoretical Physics at Technische Universität Clausthal, a position he has held since 2000, with an additional joint appointment at the University of Göttingen since 2015. His academic journey began with a diploma in Physics from the University of Karlsruhe in 1984, followed by doctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Materials and Solid State Research in Stuttgart, where he completed his doctorate in 1989. His career path includes significant research positions at IBM's Thomas J Watson Research Center in New York and the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Switzerland, where he established himself as a leading expert in computational physics before joining academia.
Professor Blöchl's most seminal contribution to science is the invention of the Projector augmented-wave (PAW) method, a groundbreaking approach published in 1994 that revolutionized computational materials science by providing an accurate and efficient all-electron electronic structure method for large systems and dynamical studies. His development of the CP-PAW program-package, which implements this method, has become an essential tool for researchers worldwide, enabling precise first-principles simulations based on density-functional theory for complex materials including solids, surfaces, and molecules. His work has been particularly influential in studying materials with strong electron correlations, where he has pioneered methods to derive simpler models from first-principles calculations to overcome limitations in spatial and time extent of simulations. The PAW method's widespread adoption across the computational physics community has made it a cornerstone technique for investigating oxides, their defects, interfaces, and surfaces, as well as reactive processes in biological enzymes and catalysts.
As a leader in the field, Professor Blöchl has significantly shaped the landscape of computational materials science through his methodological innovations and their practical implementation in widely used software. His research group at TU Clausthal continues to push the boundaries of simulation capabilities by developing new algorithms to extend the reach of current computational techniques for studying dynamical processes in complex materials. He has been instrumental in advancing the understanding of manganites and other correlated electron systems, where electron-lattice-spin interactions create rich physics with potential technological applications. Currently focusing on extending simulation capabilities to address challenges in materials science, Professor Blöchl's work continues to bridge fundamental theoretical physics with practical applications, maintaining his position at the forefront of computational approaches to materials discovery and design.
