Anna Köhler (scientist)

Anna Köhler is a German physicist who is a Professor of Physics at the University of Bayreuth. Her research considers electronic processes in organic and organometallic molecules. She makes use of optical and electrical spectroscopy to better understand photo-physical processes. In 2020 she became the first woman to win the Max Born Medal and Prize.

Early life and education
Köhler is from Germany. She enrolled in 1989 at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology for her undergraduate studies, where she studied physics and mathematics. In 1992, Köhler moved to the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.

Research and career
Köhler was appointed Professor of Physics and Chair of Soft Matter Optoelectronics at the University of Bayreuth in 2007. Her research considers organic semiconducting materials for solar cells and light-emitting diodes. In particular, Köhler has studied the spin states of organic semiconductors. Köhler was made executive director of the Bayreuth University Centre of International Excellence in 2019.. In 2022, Köhler was elected as a full member of the section III of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the fourth scientist and the first woman ever to do so.

She is the lead of a Horizon 2020 international training network on thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) OLEDs. She is interested in the photophysical processes leading to bright OLEDs, as well as in those making organic solar cells more efficient.

Köhler is also an Associate Investigator for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science.

Awards and honours

 * 1989 Fulbright Program Scholarship
 * 1999 Royal Society University Research Fellowship
 * 2019 Alexander Todd – Hans Krebs lectureship
 * 2020 Max Born Medal and Prize