Young Researcher of Turbulence, Jennifer Jucha, receives Otto-Hahn Medal
Max-Planck Society awards Dr Jennifer Jucha with the Otto-Hahn Medal for her outstanding scientific accomplishments during her doctoral thesis.
Jennifer Jucha, 27, from Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization is awarded the Otto-Hahn Medal for her „experimental and theoretical work on the break-down of the time-reversal invariance in turbulent flows“, which she conducted in the department of Professor Eberhard Bodenschatz. She will receive the medal on June, 17, 2015 during the Section meeting of the 66th general assembly of the Max Planck Society in Berlin.
Time-reversal invariance of turbulent flows
Turbulent flows are everywhere in our environment. They are present in the atmosphere and the oceans, but also in industrial mixers or in the bathtub at home. Turbulences dramatically accelerate the mixing of a fluid. Investigating the movement of small particles moving with the flow – like in blown dust – is a first step for understanding these processes. From the relative movement between these particles scientists can infer important features of turbulent flows.
In her doctoral thesis, Jennifer Jucha experimentally investigated how particles in groups of two or four move relative to each other. She found that the behavior of these groups is different for time running forwards or backward. By theoretical examining the process she was able to connect the result to a phenomenon already known in turbulence research: the transport of energy from large to small spatial scales. This relationship provides a further hint on how the different scales of a turbulent flow interact with each other.
Since 1987 the Max Planck Society has honored young scientists with the Otto-Hahn Medal for excellent scientific accomplishments that they achieved during their doctoral theses. A sum of 7,500 Euro is associated with the medal. The award aims at motivating talented young scientists to a career in research.