Hector RCD Awardee Dylan Nelson won the MERAC Prize for the best early career researcher

Hector RCD Awardee Dylan Nelson is one of three winners of the 2023 MERAC Prize of the European Astro­nom­i­cal Society for the best early career researcher. He is awarded for his leading role in compu­ta­tional astro­physics, in partic­u­lar for the Illus­trisTNG series of cosmo­log­i­cal simula­tions and his work to enable their widespread use. All awardees will give a plenary lecture at the European Astro­nom­i­cal Society annual meeting 2023 to be held in Krakow, Poland, from 10 to 14 July 2023.

Dr. Nelson is an Emmy Noether research group leader at the Insti­tute for Theoret­i­cal Astro­physics within the Center for Astron­omy (ITA/ZAH) of Heidel­berg Univer­sity. He is leader of the Illus­trisTNG project, a next gener­a­tion of cosmo­log­i­cal magne­to­hy­dro­dy­nam­i­cal simula­tions. His research group special­izes in compu­ta­tional galaxy forma­tion and evolu­tion, design­ing and carry­ing out numer­i­cal simula­tions to better under­stand how galax­ies grow across cosmic time. Dylan's research focuses on how gas flows: in to, out of, and around galax­ies. His inter­ests include the cosmic baryon cycle, the circum­galac­tic medium, and energetic feedback processes.

Since 2021, Dylan Nelson is Hector Research Career Devel­op­ment Awardee.

Congrat­u­la­tions!