User:Llydia/subpage/draf Priesemann, Viola

Viola Priesemann is a German physicist who develops the code on which the calculations of various scenarios for the spreading of the coronavirus are based.

Career
Viola Priesemann studied physics at the Technische Universität Darmstadt. Her research centred on cognitive processing in neural circuits at the École normale supérieure, as well as at the California Institute of Technology and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt.

In 2013 she achieved her Doctorate at the Goethe University Frankfurt. As of early 2021, Priesemann heads a group of researchers Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen.

Corona-related research
Priesemann has been calculating scenarios of how the spread of the Sars-CoV2 coronavirus accelerates or weakens under different conditions ever since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. During the first wave of SARS-CoV-2, Germany was one of the many countries introducing rules for social distancing in order to slow down the spreading of the virus. In comparison to other countries in Europe, the death rates were relatively low in Germany. According to an article published in Science, timing and coordination of the various measurements were also based on Priesemann's calculations on the quantification of the virus. The code on which the related calculations have been based, is freely available and adaptable to various countries or regional scenarios. In addition to looking at the basic reproduction number (R), Priesemann observed that besides the risks associated with surpassing the value of an R-value above 1, a further tipping point may be reached when the number of infections is rising so fast that the  health authorities fail to identify infected persons, tested as positive fast enough to test (and if neccessary isolate) contact persons. Priesemann developed a containment strategy that employed "Socal Bubbles". An article on this approach was published in The Lancet and ended up finding its way into several statements on how to contain covid in Europe. Besides that Priesemann is one of the scientists, supporting various public statements issued by the German_National_Academy_of_Sciences_Leopoldina.

Since borders have little influence on the spreading of the virus, Priesemann recently initiated two interdisciplinary statements to achieve joint European action on containment, which are supported by over a thousand scientists. Further information about the research conducted by Ms. Priesemann is available on her bilingual (German & English) website.

Awards
20016/17 Prisemann was assigned the Young Investigator Grant (number G-1088-421.10-2014) by the German-Israeli foundation GIF

In February 2021 Priesemann was awarded the Communitas Prize of the Max Planck Insitute.