40 years of the Alfried Krupp Prize: Physicist Raphael Wittkowski has been awarded the 2026 Alfried Krupp Prize
The Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation awarded physicist Prof. Dr Raphael Wittkowski with the Alfried Krupp Prize 2026. The prize, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is one of the most prestigious scientific honours in Germany and exemplifies the foundation’s long-standing commitment to supporting science. The 38-year-old Wittkowski has held the Professorship for the at the Theory of Active Soft Matter at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the RWTH Aachen University since 2025. He is also a member of the Scientific Board of the DWI – Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials.
The prize, endowed with € 1.1 million, was presented by Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, during a ceremonial event at Villa Hügel.
“In this anniversary year the 2026 Alfried Krupp Prize honours Professor Raphael Wittkowski and his ambitious work in the nascent field of active soft matter. Raphael Wittkowski has discovered fundamental effects in active soft matter, has developed significant models and has advanced methods of statistical physics,” stated Professor Ursula Gather, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Krupp Foundation. “Thanks to his research, utopian concepts which until now were more to be found in the vicinity of science fiction have found their way into the scientific realm, with the aim of establishing new and innovative applications in medicine and technology. The Krupp Foundation is highly pleased to support Raphael Wittkowski in the continuation of his work on the development of autonomous sound-propelled microsystems and programmable materials, and its transfer from theory to practical application.”
Minister for Culture and Science Ina Brandes, MdL, says: “The Alfried Krupp Prize is one of the most prestigious awards for young, aspiring scientists in Germany. In its 40-year tradition, it has been shown that the prize-winners have been able to realise groundbreaking, often high-risk research ideas, such as the more precise transport of active drugs to diseased cells. I warmly congratulate Prof. Dr Wittkowski on this year’s honour. The prize also recognises the great innovative power of the natural and engineering sciences, including medicine, which will bring tangible improvements to people’s lives and greater technological independence to our country.”
Prof. Dr Raphael Wittkowski’s work focuses on microsystems with their own propulsion mechanism that are controlled using ultrasound. Among other achievements, he has developed a method for guiding a large number of acoustically propelled microparticles to a specified target. With these advances, Prof. Wittkowski has paved the way for future medical applications of acoustically propelled microparticles, such as the transport of of drugs to a specific target within the body, with the aim of avoiding the disadvantages of systemic drug distribution. One example is conventional chemotherapy, the side effects of which are primarily caused by the systemic distribution of the drugs in the body, which also harms healthy tissue.