Stefan Purkhart completed his doctorate in July 2025 in the field of Astrophysics on the topic “The role of magnetic topology in the dynamics of solar eruptive events” under the supervision of Univ.-Prof. Dr. Astrid Veronig. In his doctoral thesis, he investigated the high-energy X-ray radiation from solar flares, measured by the STIX instrument onboard ESA’s Solar Orbiter mission. In his thesis work, he combined the reconstructed X-ray images and spectra with three-dimensional magnetic field models of the solar corona in order to gain a better understanding of energy release and particle acceleration in solar flares. The results of his dissertation have been published in a total of four papers in the renowned journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. Another highly cited first-author paper already resulted from his master's thesis on the topic of nanoflares on the Sun and their possible contribution to the heating of the outermost layer of the solar atmosphere, the corona.
On 16 March 2026, Mr. Stefan Purkhart was awarded the Josef Krainer “Förderungspreis” 2026 in the Meerscheinschlössl in recognition of his outstanding scientific achievements. The Institute of Physics congratulates Dr. Purkhart on this honour and wishes him continued success.