Ignas Snellen new Scientific Director of Leiden Observatory
As of 16 August Ignas Snellen is the new Scientific Director of the astronomical institute of the Faculty of Science. He will succeed Huub Rottgering, who led the institute since 2012. Snellen has been appointed for a period of four years.
Ignas Snellen is professor of Observational Astrophysics. He has been awarded the Spinoza Prize, the highest academic honour in the Netherlands. With his clever measuring methods Ignas Snellen – together with his team – was the first to detect carbon monoxide in the atmosphere of exoplanets.
Successful researcher
Dean Jasper Knoester is delighted: ‘It is great that such a successful researcher is interested in taking on a major administrative task. It will demand a lot from Ignas to fulfil the task of director in addition to his Spinoza programme, but I have every confidence that he will do so excellently’.