The university-wide Caroline-Herschel Professorship is awarded to “an excellent international scientist to carry out  research and teaching at the Ruhr Universitaet  during a semester.” Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) was a German astronomer, who contributed several discoveries of comets. She was the first woman to be named Honorary Member of the English Royal Astronomical Society. She was also an accomplished musician who performed as a singer.

This is the first time that the Professorship has been awarded to a mathematician.

Professor Werner’s research is in analysis, geometry and probability theory, and in particular in the geometry of convex bodies in high dimensions. Convex bodies are fundamental objects that appear in nearly all areas of mathematics and are relevant as well in applications such as optimization and algorithms. Professor Werner will spend Summer 2020 in Bochum, intensifying her international contacts and forming new collaborations, in addition to teaching specialized seminars.