Otto Hahn Medal awarded to Ellen Rumley and Max Dax

Frankfurt – Ellen Rumley and Maximilian Dax were awarded the Otto Hahn Medal for the year 2025 on the occasion of the Annual Meeting of the Max Planck Society on June 16, 2026 in Frankfurt am Main. The MPG honors scientists for their fundamental and innovative research in the field of soft electrohydraulic actuators (Ellen Rumley) – better known as artificial muscles – and machine learning (Max Dax). 

“I am so delighted that my research on artificial muscles has been recognized with the Otto Hahn Medal! A huge thank you goes out to my advisor, Christoph Keplinger, for my nomination, as well as a shoutout to my vibrant and supportive department – they were the backbone of my Ph.D. journey,” says Ellen and continues: “I’m so pleased that not only one, but two of us, are representing the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems at the Medal ceremony this year! Congratulations to Max Dax for his accomplishments, I’ve enjoyed our warm toast and a bite of medal with you.”

Ellen Rumley. Copyright: MPG / David Ausserhofer

“I am also deeply honored to receive the Otto Hahn Medal,” says Max. “I was fortunate to work at the thriving intersection of machine learning and gravitational-wave astronomy, collaborating with inspiring scientists in both fields. I would like to thank my advisors Bernhard Schölkopf, Jakob Macke and Stephen Green, as well as many other wonderful collaborators, in particular Alessandra Buonanno and Jonathan Gair.”

Max’ research is at the intersection of machine learning and astrophysics.where he was a member of the Empirical Inference Department, Max developed a novel, highly efficient computational framework for the analysis of gravitational wave data, enabling rapid signal characterization and addressing critical bottlenecks previously limiting the field. This universally applicable approach is currently under review for deployment in the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, and it has already contributed to high-profile astrophysical discoveries. Max’ work is distinguished not only by methodological innovation but also by scientific impact, as reflected in publications at world-leading venues: a first-author paper in Nature, two in Physical Review Letters (PRL), and several contributions at premier machine learning conferences.

Max Dax. Copyright: MPG / David Ausserhofer

After defending his thesis in July 2025, Max accepted a postdoctoral position at ETH Zurich. Then in September 2025, he returned to Tübingen as Principal Investigator at the ELLIS Institute Tübingen and as independent research group leader at MPI-IS. His research group develops AI methods to drive scientific discoveries. Besides the Otto Hahn Medal, Max has been awarded the Research Career Development Award by the Hector Fellow Academy, as well as the Hector Stiftung-Preis 2026 by the Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. 

Meanwhile, Ellen is a postdoctoral researcher in the Robotic Materials Department at MPI-IS in Stuttgart. Ellen investigates the climate-dependent actuation behavior of soft electrohydraulic actuators. In addition, she is a freelance policy analyst on the Science & Technology Watch Board of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS). Under the supervision of Allison Okamura from Stanford University, Ellen is analyzing robotics roadmaps from around the world with the goal of informing the robotics community of the bi-directional influence of internal and external stakeholders on robotics research. 

Outside of robotics, Ellen is interested in the interface of science and policy. She organized the first MPG-wide Science Policy Winter School gathering academics, diplomats, policymakers and science communicators, to discuss what roles scientists can play in shaping policy. 
In the next step of her career journey, Ellen is pursuing a role in science policy. In the near future, Ellen will work as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. State Department.

Christoph Keplinger, Director of the Robotic Materials Department at MPI-IS and Ellen’s advisor, says: "I was very excited to hear that Ellen was selected to receive the prestigious Otto Hahn Medal! This award honors her pioneering research achievements in the area of sustainable and modular actuation for advanced robotics, highlighting her excellent research skills. What sets Ellen apart is that she combines technical knowledge with a high level of creativity, and in particular also with outstanding communication skills; I believe that's the winning combination for scientific excellence!"

Bernhard Schölkopf, Director of the Empirical Inference Department at MPI-IS and Max’ advisor, says: "I am really happy to see Max recognized for this work. Physics is changing, and while AI allows us to deal with problems too complex for classical methods, Max’s research shows that these tools are most effective when they are not applied blindly, but with domain knowledge and methodological care. During his Ph.D., Max had the courage to tackle a hard problem with uncertain prospects, taking the time to understand the physics to develop custom AI methods; and en passant, he developed fundamental methodological innovations that will influence the broad and growing field of AI in science.”

 

About the Otto Hahn Medal

Every year since 1978, the Max Planck Society has awarded the Otto Hahn Medal to up to 30 young scientists and researchers for their outstanding scientific achievements, mostly in connection with their doctorate. The medal, which is endowed with 7,500 euros, aims to motivate talented young people to pursue a career in research. The award is presented during the Max Planck Society’s General Meeting in the following year. 

As President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Otto Hahn attended to the successful transformation of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society into the Max Planck Society starting in 1946. When the Max Planck Society was founded in Göttingen on 26 February 1948 to continue the work and the institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, he became the MPG’s first president.

One famous awardee of the Otto Hahn medal is Reinhard Genzel, Director at the MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching. He was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his observations of the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way. The first major research prize in his career was the Otto Hahn Medal, which he received in 1980.

The Otto Hahn Medal. Copyright: MPG / David Ausserhofer