Sami Solanki elected to the Royal Society

The world’s oldest scientific academy has honoured the researcher from Göttingen for his groundbreaking contributions to solar research. 

To the point:

• High honour: The members of the Royal Society have welcomed Sami Solanki into their ranks, electing him as a Fellow.
• Active Sun: This is in recognition of Solanki’s significant contributions to our understanding of the dynamic nature of our star, its magnetism, and its activity. 
• Solar telescopes: Solanki studies the Sun using ground-based telescopes, as well as those aboard space and balloon missions.
• Multifaceted view: He also examines the Sun’s past behaviour and compares it with that of Sun-like stars. 

Over the past two years, the Sun has been particularly explosive. There have been several solar eruptions of such magnitude that auroras were visible as far south as Germany, most recently in January of this year. At other times, our star is significantly more docile. What causes the alternation between solar tantrums and calm? How else does the capricious nature of our star manifest itself? And what processes are responsible for this? In the search for answers to these questions, Sami K. Solanki, Director at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research, has significantly shaped our understanding of the Sun. He has identified its complex and variable magnetic field as the driving force behind a wide variety of phenomena, from tiny nano-flares in the hot solar atmosphere to massive prominences, giant plasma clouds extending thousands of kilometres into space. 

Solanki’s research is based on a multifaceted view of the Sun, observing it with high resolution, over long periods of time, as continuously as possible, and from new perspectives. To this end, under his leadership, the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research is involved in innovative ground-based solar telescopes, as well as numerous space missions, such as Solar Orbiter, Vigil, STEREO, MUSE, Solar C and Aditya. Solanki initiated or played a key role in shaping and advancing many of these projects. He also launched the Sunrise mission. The balloon-borne solar observatory has already observed the Sun three times from the stratosphere and captured unique observational data.

Additionally, Solanki examines the Sun’s past to gain insight into its long-term behaviour. Natural archives such as tree rings and ice cores from the Arctic’s permafrost provide evidence of past solar activity. Solanki also compares our star with its “peer group”: thousands of sun-like stars. Through this approach, he was able to demonstrate that superflares, bursts of radiation releasing unimaginable amounts of energy, are likely to occur on the Sun more frequently than expected.

About the scientist and the academy

Sami K. Solanki studied and earned his doctorate at ETH Zurich. Following research stays at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and the University of Oulu in Finland, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, where he has been director since 1999. Solanki has received numerous honours and awards, including honorary professorships at ETH Zurich, the Technical University of Braunschweig, and Kyung Hee University in South Korea; the Zdenĕk Švetska Senior Prize from the European Physical Society; the George Ellery Hale Prize from the American Astronomical Society; an honorary doctorate from the University of Oulu; the Distinguished Scientist Award from the Scientific Committee on Solar-Terrestrial Physics; and the Julius Bartels Medal from the European Geosciences Union.

The Royal Society, based in London, is the world’s oldest scientific academy. It was founded in the 1660s. Its members, known as Fellows, have included Isaac Newton, William Thomson and Ernest Rutherford. Currently, the academy has around 1,900 members, including 85 Nobel laureates. New members are elected by existing members. This year, 93 scientists were admitted.

“Their contributions reflect the highest standards of scientific endeavour. Whether advancing our understanding of vaccines or exploring the transformative potential of mathematics and computation, their work exemplifies the enduring value of curiosity, creativity and rigorous inquiry”, said Sir Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society.

In addition to Sami Solanki, the Royal Society has appointed two other Max Planck researchers from Göttingen as Fellows: Melina Schuh, from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, and Ramin Golestanian, from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization.