Astrid Lambrecht

Astrid Lambrecht is a German physicist and Chair of the Board of Directors of Forschungszentrum Jülich. She previously served as Director of the Physics Division at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) until 2021. From 2021 to 2023, she was a member of the Board of Directors at Forschungszentrum Jülich, responsible for the Information Department, before being appointed Chair of the Board in 2023. She studied physics at the University of Essen (now the University of Duisburg-Essen) and at Imperial College London, before completing her doctorate in quantum physics at Université Pierre & Marie Curie (now Sorbonne University, Paris), where she also earned her habilitation in physics in 2002.

Her main area of research is quantum fluctuations and fluctuation-induced forces, in particular the Casimir effect and related phenomena in atomic physics or nanophysics. 

During her career Lambrecht has published more than 140 publications and has served as member of various boards committees. In particular Lambrecht has served as co-editor of the EPL Journal from 2007 to 2014 and she is a member of the Scientific Council of the Parliamentary Office for the Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Choices (OPECST), of the Metrology Committee to France’s national metrology network (RMNF) and of the administration board of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). She is laureate of the Aimé Cotton Prize of the French Physical Society in 2005, the CNRS Silver Medal in 2013, the Gentner Kastler Prize of the French Physical Society and the German Physical Society in 2016, and Knight of the Legion of Honor since 2019. Lambrecht has joined the Physics Directorate at CNRS Headquarters as scientific deputy director in 2016 and has been appointed head of the Directorate in 2018.