Interview
“I want to fully tap the scientific potential”
The Swedish experimental physicist Thomas Nilsson took up the position of the Scientific Managing Director at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH and the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe (FAIR) GmbH on December 1, 2024. Photo: GSI/FAIR
Swedish experimental physicist Thomas Nilsson is the new Scientific Director of the GSI in Darmstadt. In the following, he talks about his plans, the glamor of the Nobel Prize – and his penchant for power saws.
Mr. Nilsson, you were in Darmstadt for quite a while as a doctoral student. Are the student pubs from back then still around?
(laughs) It’s a shame, but I haven’t had time to look yet! It would probably be a disappointment anyway, because the bars probably don’t exist anymore: I came to the TU Darmstadt, which was my first stop abroad, in 1989. The Berlin Wall fell during that time and we were all full of hope about how European cooperation would develop. As you can see, that was quite a while ago!
Why did you choose Darmstadt in the first place?
It all started with a scientific collaboration between Darmstadt and my university in Gothenburg. Even then, I was involved in nuclear and particle physics; one of my professors in Gothenburg impressed me tremendously with his teaching style and methods. That was one of the main reasons why I chose this specialization and ultimately why I ended up in Darmstadt. At the time, I was employed at the TU Darmstadt, but I also worked as a visiting doctoral student at the GSI the whole time.
Your career has taken you all over the world. Most recently, you headed the Faculty of Physics in Gothenburg and were appointed to the Royal Academy in Stockholm. What made you so curious about the GSI that you accepted the appointment?
I’ve had a solid connection with the GSI ever since my doctoral studies. I have conducted experiments here as a researcher, I have served on committees and sat on the GSI Supervisory Board and the FAIR Council in recent years. However, I particularly remember a task from quite a while ago.
What was that?
The early phase, when the planning for the FAIR accelerator center had just started. I had set out on a world tour with the Hans Gutbrod, a project manager at the time, to get new member states on board. And here we come full circle, because I firmly expect that we will be able to conduct the first experiments at FAIR during my current term of office.
But you won’t exactly have it easy: the construction schedule and budget have had to be adjusted several times...
...but that’s not unusual for a project of this size and complexity! When it comes to such a large-scale scientific facility, it’s all up in the air until the first ion beam is emitted and the experiments can begin. What’s important is the result – and we must not forget in this debate that we are creating something that can’t be found anywhere else in the world.
You yourself spent a long time at CERN, you were at facilities in Japan and Canada. What can FAIR do that the others can’t?
No other facility in the world is as broadly designed as this one. We can generate high-energy ion beams of extremely high intensity, and we can do it with unstable ions of all chemical elements. We can vary the beam properties very flexibly, from a pseudo-continuous beam to a pulsed one, depending on what the researchers need for their experiments. In addition, FAIR is designed to create beams of antiprotons and very exotic atomic nuclei, known as secondary beams. This diversity makes FAIR interesting for nuclear physicists, atomic physicists and plasma physicists, but also medical scientists and many, many others – cutting-edge research can be carried out here in a diverse range of fields. This tremendous breadth is truly unique.
Thomas Nilsson. Photo: private
What do you expect from this research in concrete terms?
I myself come from the field of basic research, and FAIR offers many opportunities for precisely such research questions. But the fascinating thing is that it often leads to practical applications that we may not even be aware of today.
What have you learned about the GSI during your first few weeks in your new role?
First of all, I have to get used to the German structures and German working life, if that’s what you mean (laughs). Due to my work on the committees, I haven’t had that much experience with it so far. Getting to know it is one of my challenges at the moment.
What question do you hear most often these days?
Mostly I am asked about my vision for the GSI. And before you ask: I then answer that I would need to extend my view beyond my term of office, because today’s decisions will only have an impact much later. I want the GSI and FAIR to become a destination for talent from all over the world. And not just for basic research, but also with a view to concrete applications and technology transfer. We are already in a very good position in this respect, but it is important to me to build on that: I want to fully tap the scientific potential.
Could you be a little more specific?
That largely depends on new developments in research. The GSI’s structure and priorities have been in place for a long time – and they offer us a good toolbox for adapting to the new instruments, methods and questions that have arisen. Let me give you an example from the FAIR accelerator center: when we were planning it, we still knew very little about gravitational waves – or about the fact that many of the heavy elements found on Earth probably arose from neutron star collisions. Our facility will be very well suited to further research into the processes and the specific atomic nuclei involved.
You also have excellent insights into cutting-edge science from another position: as a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences – which is also where the Nobel Prize winners are selected. Is it as glamorous as it sounds?
Above all, it’s a huge amount of work. The Nobel Committee selects, evaluates and discusses meticulously. Those serving on the Committee take their work very seriously. So I won’t be on it because of time constraints – but of course I’ll stay in the Academy. And two clichés are actually true: it’s all highly confidential. And yes, it’s a bit glamorous, too.
Have you now moved to Darmstadt entirely?
My wife and I will have two places of residence for the time being. We’ve just found an apartment here in the region, and in Sweden we have a holiday home in the middle of the woods.
I can just picture you chopping wood...
...wrong: I tend to work with a chainsaw. And above all, I can train there in peace and quiet to improve my running. I’ve run a number of half marathons and a few marathons. Maybe I’ll manage to be part of the next marathon in Frankfurt – let’s see if there’s enough time to train.
Personal details:
Thomas Nilsson has been Scientific Managing Director of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH in Darmstadt since December 1, 2024. He holds the same position at the international accelerator center FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe). Prior to these positions, he served as head of the Physics Department at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. He is also a member of the Physics Section of the renowned Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is responsible for selecting Nobel Prize winners. He has extensive experience in the strategic planning of large research projects, e.g. at CERN.
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