Homepage Harold Linnartz

The Laboratory for Astrophysics at Leiden Observatory was the first of its kind in the world. In 1975 the Laboratory was founded by Mayo Greenberg. He demonstrated the importance of accurate laboratory data to guide and interpret astronomical observations. Prof. Greenberg has been in charge of the laboratory for nearly a quarter century and was involved in the ongoing research until far after his retirement. Many well known scientists have been working under his supervision; Profs. d'Hendecourt, Ehrenfreund, Tielens, and Allamandola. Today, the Sackler Laboratory for Astrophysics is still a unique facility where astronomers, physicists and chemists work together to simulate and understand inter- and circumstellar processes. Fingerprint spectra of molecular species of astrophysical interest, both in the gas phase and in the solid state, are recorded and reaction pathways towards molecular complexity are studied using state-of-the-art experimental setups.

Nearly 30 PhD thesis's were completed in the Sackler Laboratory. With roughly 350 scientific publications the laboratory has substantially contributed to the understanding of the physics and chemistry of inter- and circumstellar processes.

Mayo Greenberg has been in charge of the laboratory up to his retirement in 1992 after which Ewine van Dishoeck has been formally leading the laboratory until 2004. In this period much of the daily work was taken care of by Willem Schutte and Pascale Ehrenfreund. Stephan Schlemmer (now Cologne) has been heading the group for a short period after 2004. Since 2005 Harold Linnartz is in charge of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Laboratory for Astrophysics. Under his supervision the laboratory has been substantially extended. With seven specialized setups, research is performed with a focus on transient species of astrophysical interest as well as the spectroscopy of interstellar ices and fundamental properties of atom and photon induced processes in interstellar ice analogues. The laboratory has moved into the center of a number of large astrochemistry networks, specifically LASSIE, a 6.05 MEuro FP7 ITN project on solid state astrochemistry, DAN, the Dutch Astrochemistry Network, and in 2009 Prof. Linnartz was awarded a 1.5 MEuro VICI grant to further 'Unlock the Chemistry of the Heavens'.

The laboratory has strongly benefitted from a generous grant provided by Dr. Raymond R. Sackler and his wife, Beverly, who are international philanthropists with a deep longstanding commitment to support scientific research. Many of the results achieved in the period 1997-2007 have only become accessible because of funding by the Sacklers. This is why the laboratory proudly carries their name.

As a thank you, Leiden Observatory has given Asteroid 7690 the name 'Sackler'. In 2004, Mr. Sackler received from the Dutch queen the title 'Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau', in honour of his numerous efforts to support society.