Prof. Thomas Lippert, expert for high-performance and quantum computing, is a new Senior Fellow at FIAS. The physicist and computer scientist will also occupy the newly created professorship for "Modular Supercomputing and Quantum Computing" at the Institute for Computer Science at Goethe University Frankfurt from August 1, 2020.

With his help, the Center for Scientific Computing (CSC) at the Goethe University is to be further developed into a national high-performance computing center, including a quantum computer as a computer module.

The President of the Goethe University, Prof. Birgitta Wolff, said: "With Thomas Lippert, we have succeeded in attracting one of the world's most renowned scientists in the field of supercomputing to the Goethe University. I am convinced that he will set groundbreaking impulses in research and teaching at Goethe University. As Director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), he will also further expand our strategic alliance with Forschungszentrum Jülich in the field of supercomputing.

Prof. Enrico Schleiff, Chairman of the Board of Directors of FIAS, stated: "Thomas Lippert's research interests in the development, construction and application of high-performance computing technologies have led him into other very current fields of research. For example, he manages one of the main pillars of the European Human Brain Project. At FIAS he is already involved in a project to simulate the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We are looking forward to a tremendously well-versed and versatile colleague who has already started his cooperation in the FIAS".

Prof. Thomas Lippert said: "I am very much looking forward to my new position at the Goethe University. I will establish two research groups at the Institute of Computer Science and at FIAS to explore the development as well as the practical application of Modular Supercomputers and Quantum Computers. The unique selling points of the planned national high-performance computing centre at the CSC are to be three things: firstly, energy efficiency, where the Goethe University has an internationally visible pioneering role; secondly, maximum scalability through modularity; and thirdly, applications of artificial intelligence based on high-performance computing. This combination is unique at a German university." 

Thomas Lippert received his diploma in physics at the University of Würzburg in 1987 in the field of supersymmetry and received his doctorate in 1993 in Wuppertal on lattice gauge theories, one of the most complex fields of theoretical physics. He received his second doctorate at the University of Groningen in the field of computer science. In 2001 he habilitated on simulations of quantum chromodynamics in Wuppertal. Since 2004, he has been Professor of Computational Theoretical Physics at the University of Wuppertal, Director of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) at Forschungszentrum Jülich and member and Executive Director of the Board of Directors of the John-von-Neunmann Institute for Computing (NIC). Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Lippert has played a leading role in the establishment of numerous large research infrastructures and is active in these, including the JSC, the John von Neumann Institute for Computing of the Helmholtz Association, the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE), the European development project for supercomputers DEEP and the Jülich LOFAR Data and Compute Centre as part of the major European radio astronomy project LOFAR.

The press release can also be found on the website of Goethe University: