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Jes Madsen retires after an impressive career

Jes Madsen has decided to retire from his position as Vice-Dean on 1st September 2020, as well as from his position as Professor at IFA, also on 1st September 2020

Jes Madsen has decided to retire from his position as Vice-Dean on 1st September 2020, as well as from his position as Professor at IFA, also on 1st September 2020. Jes started his scientific career at AU in 1982, where he finished his Master of Science (M.Sc.), and a PhD in 1986. Following some years as Postdoc and Assistant Professor, he received a permanent position as  Associate Professor in 1991. Hereafter, he was Head of Department at IFA during two periods, in 1999 and in 2010-2011, but also worked as vice-Head of Department in 2001-2003 and again in 2009-2010. Jes was appointed Professor in 2006. In 2002-2005 Jes was Head of the PhD programme at NAT, and since 2011  he has been Vice-Dean . Furthermore, he was Chairman for the Danish Council for Independent Research, Natural sciences (DFF) in 2007-2009. Over the years, Jes has carried out several research stays abroad, among others in Seattle.

In the years before Jes became Vice-Dean, IFA, and many others, benefitted from his extensive expertise as Professor within cosmology and compact objects (neutron stars, black holes and the so-called “strange stars”), as well as his impressive teaching within these fields. As Vice-Dean, he was a highly respected and competent Head of the Faculty´s graduate school, and had extensive knowledge about almost all relevant acts, regulations and procedures at AU as well as nationally.

Jes has an impressive research career, with as many as 18 articles in Physical Review Letters –one of the most prestigious magazines within physics and astronomy. Several of these have been generously cited, many with more than 100 cites, and many are single author articles – a very exceptional and impressive accomplishment within his field. Titles of some of his highly cited articles: ”Bose condensates, big bang nucleosynthesis, and cosmological decay of a 17 keV neutrino”; ”Colour-flavour locked strangelets” and ”Probing strange stars and colour superconductivity by r-mode instabilities in millisecond pulsars”, bear witness of his long interest for cosmology during many years, and for stars that can consist of significant amounts of the so-called “strange” quarks.

Apart from his remarkable contribution in the shape of articles, Jes has been a highly regarded teacher in e.g., the courses “Cosmology”; “Advanced Cosmology” and “Compact Objects”. Many of us, who have graduated from AU, fondly remember Jes´ lessons that thoroughly examined subjects in the area between astrophysics, nuclear physics and particle physics, presented in a way where the participants’ learning was in focus and with a never failing – and always catching – enthusiasm. His great communicative skills and exiting research within the field also meant that he attracted many students, who enjoyed his competent advice in relation to their theses and PhD dissertations. Many of his students are today working as researchers and teachers and owe this to Jes.

On behalf of the entire Department, we would like to thank Jes for his huge contribution to IFA and AU over the years, and congratulate him for an impressive career. Jes will continue his connection with IFA as an emeritus, and due to his history of producing many publications, it may not be the last time we will have scientific news from him.

 

Steen Hannestad and Ulrik Uggerhøj