Physicist Dr. Florian Dirnberger from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) School of Natural Sciences received the prestigious Röntgen Prize of Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) during the Academic Ceremony on Friday, November 28, 2025. The award, endowed with €15,000 by Pfeiffer Vacuum+Fab Solutions (Busch Group) and the Ludwig Schunk Foundation, has been presented annually since 1960 in memory of Nobel laureate Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who taught in Giessen from 1879 to 1888. 

Dr. Dirnberger was recognized for his groundbreaking experiments on magnetic two-dimensional (2D) materials, including pioneering discoveries in the photonics of 2D magnetic solids. According to the JLU review committee, he published two highly influential studies that significantly advanced research on optically and magnetically correlated systems. 

After earning his physics degree and PhD at the University of Regensburg, Dirnberger conducted research at the City College of New York (USA) and at TU Dresden before leading an Emmy Noether research group at TUM. His work has revealed new hybrid light-matter quasiparticles and has demonstrated their interactions with collective magnetic excitations—key breakthroughs in understanding complex 2D magnetic systems. 

As part of the tradition, Dr. Dirnberger presented his research in a public lecture titled “Magnetism, Light and Matter – Insights from Two-Dimensional Materials” on Thursday, November 27, 2025, at JLU Giessen. 

Publications 

• Magneto-optics in a van der Waals magnet tuned by self-hybridized polaritons. Dirnberger et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06275-2
• Spin-correlated exciton–polaritons in a van der Waals magnet. Dirnberger et al. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01204-2

More information and links 

• NAT Features: Dr. Florian Dirnberger https://www.nat.tum.de/en/nat/latest/article/nat-features-dr-florian-dirnberger/
• Dr. Dirnberger’s research group Excitonic Quantum Materials https://www.exc-qumat.de/home
• Röntgenpreis für Dr. Florian Dirnberger https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/ueber-uns/pressestelle/pm/pm179-25roentgenpreisdirnberger (in German) 

Press contact 
communications(at)nat.tum.de 
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