Bernhard Brandl

Biography

Bernhard Brandl is a Full Professor at the University of Leiden and the TU Delft (part-time). He is the principal investigator of the METIS instrument, an imager and spectrograph, for the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT). The unique design makes it possible to use the instrument for imaging, coronagraphy, medium-resolution spectroscopy for the full wavelength range (3-19 microns) and high-resolution spectroscopy for the L and M bands (3-5 microns). He is also the co-principal investigator of MIRI, the mid-infrared instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope. Brandl is a member of the KINGFISH project as well. KINGFISH is a Herschel imaging and spectroscopic survey of 61 nearby (d < 30 Mpc) galaxies, chosen to cover a wide range of galaxy properties and local interstellar medium (ISM) environments. The goal of the project is characterize the ISM of present-day galaxies, the heating and cooling of their gaseous and dust components, and to better understand the physical processes linking star formation and the ISM.

Research Interest

Bernhard Brandl's research focuses on two main areas: starbursts and instrumentation. He is interested in new instrument concepts, near- and mid-IR instruments, adaptive optics, properties of starbust galaxies and infrared spectroscopy. Currently, he is the principal investigator of the METIS instrument for the E-ELT and he is working as full professor at both Leiden University as TU Delft.