Already a Remarkable Year: Three Prizes and a Lise Meitner Group for Dr. Anna Rosławska

August 18, 2026

2026

It has been an extraordinary run of recognition for Dr. Anna Rosławska, head of the Emmy Noether Research Group "Atomic Scale Optics" at our institute. Within the space of a few months, she has been awarded three major prizes and accepted into one of the Max Planck Society's most prestigious career programs — a sequence of honors that reflects, in the clearest possible terms, the impact of her research.

Woman with red hair in a black blazer and white textured top standing with crossed arms against a blurred industrial background. — “I am really grateful for all these recognitions and the chance to work with fantastic people along the way. I look forward to the new exciting experiments in which we will learn even more about light-matter interaction. On a personal note, I enjoy gardening, so I find studying the atomic scale processes that drive photosynthesis particularly fascinating.”

“I am really grateful for all these recognitions and the chance to work with fantastic people along the way. I look forward to the new exciting experiments in which we will learn even more about light-matter interaction. On a personal note, I enjoy gardening, so I find studying the atomic scale processes that drive photosynthesis particularly fascinating.”

Dr. Rosławska was recognized for her work on submolecular-scale control of phototautomerization. Her research develops hyper-resolution optical microscopy, extending optical methods down to atomic length scales in order to push the boundaries of our understanding of the mechanisms underlying photosynthesis and light absorption. By combining scanning tunneling microscopy with optical spectroscopy, she is able to observe how individual electrons are converted into photons, how energy transfer proceeds at the atomic scale during photosynthesis, and how fluorescence can be controlled by individual electric charges. Her work further demonstrated, for the first time, precise control over a photo-induced reaction by directing light at a specific part of a single molecule — a result that opens new possibilities in photochemistry.

The Karl Freudenberg Prize

Most recently, the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities awarded Dr. Rosławska the Karl Freudenberg Prize, established in 1986 by the Freudenberg Group on the occasion of Karl Freudenberg's 100th birthday. The prize honors outstanding scientific work in the natural sciences, with a particular focus on chemistry and biology, and is reserved for researchers under the age of 35. The award ceremony took place on June 20 as part of the Academy's annual celebration in Heidelberg.

The Nernst-Haber-Bodenstein Prize

A man in a suit presents a certificate to a woman wearing a badge in front of a green chalkboard.

Following the Gaede Prize 2026 of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft, Dr. Rosławska has also been awarded the Nernst-Haber-Bodenstein Prize of the Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für physikalische Chemie (DBG), one of the most storied distinctions in German physical chemistry.
Established in memory of Max Bodenstein, Fritz Haber, and Walther Nernst — three towering figures who shaped the discipline in the early twentieth century — the Nernst-Haber-Bodenstein Prize has been awarded since 1953 to recognize outstanding scientific achievement by researchers early in their careers. The prize is traditionally presented at the opening ceremony of the annual Bunsen-Tagung, the DBG's flagship conference.

Appointment to the Lise Meitner Excellence Program

Rounding out this exceptional year, Dr. Rosławska has been accepted into the Lise Meitner Excellence Program of the Max Planck Society and will establish her own independent research group at the MPI-FKF. The program was created for highly talented early-career women scientists, with the explicit goal of increasing the representation of women in scientific leadership positions within the Max Planck Society. As a Lise Meitner Group Leader, she will command her own personnel and material resources and have full access to the institute's infrastructure, alongside a guaranteed pathway to a W2 tenure track evaluation within five years.

Anna’s advice for the future scientists:
“Be open to new concepts and ideas, it’s fun to think about “impossible projects”- in the end, some might become doable”

Research at the Frontier of Light and Matter

Dr. Rosławska leads a research group operating at a remarkable disciplinary intersection: that of quantum optics and scanning tunneling microscopy. Her team employs a unique combination of STM and optical spectroscopy, to investigate the interaction of light and matter at the most fundamental level — one molecule at a time, with atomic precision. The significance of this work extends well beyond basic research: the processes under investigation are central to photosynthesis, organic optoelectronics, and photochemical reactions, and elucidating them at the single-molecule level opens new avenues for next-generation nanoscale technologies.

A Distinguished Scientific Career

Dr. Rosławska studied physics and nanotechnology in Gdańsk, Poland, and has maintained a connection to the MPI-FKF since the early stages of her career. She completed her doctorate in 2019 at EPFL Lausanne, subsequently conducted research as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at IPCMS Strasbourg, and returned to Stuttgart in 2023 to establish the Emmy Noether Research Group "Atomic Scale Optics."