Markus Rex is a 2025 NOMIS Awardee, head of Atmospheric Physics at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), and full professor at the University of Potsdam in Germany. He is leading the project Deepcloud: Tearing Down a Long-Standing Barrier in Climate Research by Pioneering a New AI-Based Model Approach.
Born in Germany, Rex studied physics, meteorology and geophysics at the Technische Universität Braunschweig and the University of Göttingen. He earned a PhD in atmospheric physics from the Freie Universität Berlin and completed his habilitation at the University of Bremen. He has worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in the US, held an Erskine Fellowship at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, and has taught at the Freie Universität Berlin and the University of Bremen. He has served as head of Atmospheric Physics at AWI and full professor at the University of Potsdam since 2016.
Research Focus
A trailblazing climate scientist, Markus Rex’s research focuses on atmospheric chemistry, polar processes and the role of atmospheric feedback in the Earth’s climate system. He has led numerous large-scale international research initiatives, most notably the pioneering MOSAiC (Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate) expedition — the largest Arctic research mission in history. Involving more than 400 experts and 80 institutions across 20 countries, MOSAiC significantly advanced global understanding of climate feedback mechanisms in the central Arctic.
Rex has made major contributions to our knowledge of stratospheric ozone depletion and has played a key role in scientific assessments informing international environmental policy. Driven by a deep curiosity and strong commitment to open science, he continues to explore the frontiers of climate research through interdisciplinary and collaborative projects such as Deepcloud.
Awards and Recognition
Rex has received many honors, including the Maritime Seadeavcon Award (2020) and the Dobson Award for Young Scientists (2004). He is the author of the bestselling and award-winning book, The Greatest Polar Expedition of All Time: The Arctic Mission to the Epicenter of Climate Change, translated from the original German (Eingefroren am Nordpol: Das Logbuch von der “Polarstern”) and published in five languanges. He was shortlisted for the German Radio Award (Deutscher Radiopreis) and the Northern German Broadcasting Nonfiction Prize (NDR Sachbuchpreis).
Feature images: Photos courtesy of Markus Rex / AWI