Heino Falcke

Heino Falcke (Cologne, 26 September 1966) is a German astrophysicist, radio astronomer and science communicator, regarded as one of the world’s leading experts in the study of black holes. He is currently Professor of Astroparticle Physics and Radio Astronomy at Radboud University in the Netherlands and an associate researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

After studying physics at the Universities of Cologne and Bonn, he obtained a degree in physics in 1992 and a PhD in astronomy in 1994, graduating with the highest honours (summa cum laude), from the University of Bonn. He subsequently carried out research at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, the University of Maryland and the University of Arizona, obtaining his habilitation in 2000. He has been teaching at Radboud University since 2003, where he was appointed full professor in 2007.

His international reputation is linked to his research into supermassive black holes. In 2000, he coined the term ‘black hole shadow’ and was among the first to propose the creation of a global network of radio telescopes capable of imaging it. This insight led to the creation of the Event Horizon Telescope, the project that in 2019 captured the first image of a black hole, at the centre of the M87 galaxy. Falcke was one of the founders of the consortium and chair of its Scientific Council.

His most significant scientific contributions include studies on black hole activity, the jet-disk symbiosis model, the ‘fundamental plane’ of black holes, and research into cosmic rays and the LOFAR and SKA radio telescopes.

His best-known popular science publications include the bestseller *Light in the Darkness* (*Licht im Dunkeln*, 2020), which has been translated into numerous languages, and *Zwischen Urknall und Apokalypse*.

Throughout his career, he has received prestigious international awards, including the Spinoza Prize – the Netherlands’ highest scientific honour – the Henry Draper Medal, the Balzan Prize, the Herschel Medal and the title of Knight of the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands.