New scientific leadership at the research neutron source

Prof. Andreas Meyer to become Scientific Director of FRM II

The Research Neutron Source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) is welcoming a new Scientific Director. Physicist and TUM alumnus Prof. Andreas Meyer will take over from Prof. Christian Pfleiderer on 1 October 2026. Since 2021, Andreas Meyer has served as the German Associate Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble.

Prof. Andreas Meyer will serve as Scientific Director of FRM II for a five-year term. The research neutron source in Garching near Munich, as Germany’s most powerful research reactor, has provided an essential service for national and international scientists for decades. It is important that this potential and the high level of expertise at FRM II continue to be made available to the entire scientific community in the future.

TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann emphasized: “I am convinced that Prof. Andreas Meyer will successfully manage the diverse responsibilities at FRM II thanks to his scientific and technical expertise, international experience, and the necessary management skills. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Prof. Christian Pfleiderer for taking on the role of Scientific Director at short notice on 1 January 2024 and for having since contributed, with the utmost dedication, to steering FRM II through challenging times.”

About Prof. Andreas Meyer:

Prof. Dr. Andreas Meyer has served as the German Associate Director of the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble since 1 October 2021 and is also Head of the Technology and Projects Division. An expert in the application of neutron scattering in materials science, he focuses on the dynamics and structure of metallic melts at very high temperatures and near the glass transition. Following his PhD, which was based on research conducted at the Nuclear Resonant Scattering Beamline at the ESRF, Andreas Meyer joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the USA, where he worked on the commissioning of a new neutron backscattering spectrometer. He subsequently obtained his habilitation at the Department of Physics at the Technical University of Munich.

In 2006, he became Director of the Institute for Materials Physics in Space at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne, in a joint appointment with Ruhr University Bochum. Since 2021, he has been the German Associate Director of the ILL. Throughout his career, neutron-based science has been a key component of Andreas Meyer’s scientific work. He has also represented the German neutron scattering community in various capacities, most recently as an elected member of the German Committee for Research with Neutrons.