The radiation man

Jan Ruschel investigates short-wave UV light sources in Adlershof

He could have done something completely different. “Way back in the day, I thought I might become an artist,” says Jan Ruschel. Quite a few brows were furrowed at his grammar school in Berlin when he chose a very particular combination of advanced courses for his A-levels. Art and physics—how does that go together?

In the end, physics had the upper hand. In addition to studying at Technische Universität Berlin, Ruschel worked for a medical technology firm that developed pacemakers for a couple of years. In late 2016, he then arrived at Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz-Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik (FBH) as a doctoral student. His dissertation was focused on the question of how the longevity of light-emitting diodes, generating short-wave UV radiation, could be prolonged. He completed his thesis in 2021, but the topic continued to be on his mind: “I can’t stop here; there are still things left to do,” is what he told himself after completing his doctorate.
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