site.btaBulgarian Physicist Wins German Award for Young Researchers

Dr. Daniela Doneva, PhD, is the recipient of the Gustav Herz Prize awarded to young scientists by the German Physical Society for 2024, the St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia reported. Dr. Doneva has been recognized for her exceptional contributions to the study of properties of black holes and neutron stars in gravitational theories beyond general relativity and for her fundamental contributions to the use of compact objects and gravitational waves.  

The Gustav Hertz Prize is intended to recognize outstanding, recently completed work by one or more young physicists and thus serve as an incentive for young scientists. The work to be honored should come from the fields of experimental or theoretical physics, show a certain degree of completion and contain new findings. The award consists of EUR 7,500 in prize money and a certificate.

Dr. Doneva graduated with a Master’s degree in astrophysics and stellar astronomy. She defended a PhD in physics at Sofia University’s Faculty of Physics in 2012. That same year, she started working at the University of Tubingen in Germany. Her work is supported by the Humboldt Research Fellowship (2013-2015) and the Margarete von Wrangell habilitation programme (2015-2018). In 2019 became the head of an independent scientific group working on gravitation and relativistic astrophysics at the University of Tubingen.

Daniela Doneva is also a recipient of the Bulgarian Education and Science Ministry’s  Pythagoras Prize for young scientists in 2018.