Rate My Professor Axel Brandenburg

Axel Brandenburg is Professor of Astrophysics at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (Nordita) in Stockholm and at the Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, positions he has held since 2007 when Nordita relocated from Copenhagen to Stockholm. He earned his PhD from the University of Helsinki in 1990. His earlier career includes postdoctoral positions at Nordita in Copenhagen (1990-1992) and the High Altitude Observatory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder (1992-1994), followed by a role as Nordic Assistant Professor at Nordita (1994-1996). He then served as Professor of Applied Mathematics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1996-2000) and Professor of Astrophysics at Nordita in Copenhagen (2000-2006). Additionally, he was a Visiting Professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder from 2015 to 2018. He has also served as Nordita Deputy Director.

Brandenburg's research focuses on astrophysical fluid dynamics, including magnetic field generation from turbulent motions with applications to the Sun and stars, accretion discs, galaxies, and the early Universe. He studies accretion disc turbulence, magneto-rotational and dynamo instabilities, and the suppression of the dynamo effect in generating large-scale fields. He maintains the Pencil Code, a public domain code for astrophysical fluid dynamics simulations. Key publications include 'The Astrophysical Dynamo: A Review' (2005, Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), which provides a unified treatment of small-scale and large-scale dynamos; 'Solar Surface Dynamo' (2005, Astrophysical Journal), proposing near-surface shear for solar dynamo migration; 'The Inverse Cascade and the Early Universe' (2001, Astrophysical Journal), establishing connections between inverse cascades and alpha effects; and 'Large-scale Magnetic Fields from Hydromagnetic Turbulence in the Very Early Universe' (1996, Physical Review D). He received an ERC Advanced Grant in 2009 for Astrophysical Dynamos (2.22 million euros), was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2014, and in 2025 was awarded an ERC Synergy Grant and a Swedish Research Council grant.