The German Astronomical Society (AG) has named its awardees for 2026. This years' Astrophysical Software Award goes to Cornelis P. Dullemond (ZAH/ARI) for his conception, development, and long-term stewardship of the radiative transfer software RADMC-3D. (2026/07/10)
For his conception, development, and long-term stewardship of the radiative transfer software RADMC-3D, the German Astronomical Society (AG), Germany's national professional association for astronomy and astrophysics, awards the Astrophysical Software Prize 2026 to Cornelis P. Dullemond.
RADMC-3D has become an influential and widely used software package in astrophysics, providing researchers with a robust framework to model dust and gas radiative transfer and to generate synthetic observables that can be directly compared with astronomical data. Its flexibility and reliability have made it a standard tool in fields ranging from protoplanetary disks and star formation to evolved stars, and active galactic nuclei. Through its broad adoption across the international community, RADMC-3D has played a key role in transforming theoretical models into testable predictions and has enabled significant advances in our understanding of the Universe.
Prof. Dr. Dullemond received his PhD in Astrophysics from Leiden University in 1999. Following postdoctoral positions at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg as Senior Postdoctoral Researcher and later as a Group Leader. Since 2010, he has been Professor at Heidelberg University at the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA), which is part of the Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH).
The prize will be awarded to him at the annual meeting of the German Astronomical Society, which will take place in Garching from September 7-11, 2026.
ZAH extends its warmest congratulations on this award!
RELATED PRESS RELEASE
AG Awardees 2026
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Awards of the AG
Annual AG Meeting 2026
RADMC-3D
SCIENTIFIC CONTACT
Prof. Dr. Cornelis P. Dullemond
Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH)
Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (ITA)
dullemond@uni-heidelberg.de
Personal homepage
CONTACT FOR MEDIA INQUIRIES
Dr. Guido Thimm
Centre for Astronomy of Heidelberg University (ZAH)
thimm@uni-heidelberg.de
