Hugo Geiger Prize 2012

The Bavarian government instituted this prize in 1999 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. It is named for former Bavarian secretary of state Hugo Geiger – patron of the inaugural assembly of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on March 26 1949. The Hugo Geiger Prize is awarded for outstanding, application-oriented doctoral theses or dissertations – up to now only in the life sciences. From this year on, prizes will also be awarded for papers that cover other research areas of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. The prizewinning papers are selected on the basis of scientific quality, industrial or economic relevance, novelty and an interdisciplinary approach. The work must be directly related to a Fraunhofer Institute or have been written at one. This year, the first-placed winner will receive 5000 euros in prize money, the second winner 3000 euros and the third 2000 euros.

Sven Rademacher developed the mobile, infrared optical filter photometer as part of this Master‘s thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measuring Technology IPM in Freiburg. Unlike commercially available systems, it detects several gases at the same time.

In his diploma thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg, Harry Kummer developed a highly promising coating system for the use on heat exchangers integrated in these adsorption chillers. His coating system is flexible and suitable for new and optimized adsorption materials.

In her thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT in Ilmenau, Anna Marie Kruspe developed an automated classification process for non-Western music genres. Using this process, she achieves an accuracy of 70 percent. This is equivalent to the existing systems for classifying Western music.