Ludvig Doeser, this year's winner of the Magnus Axelsson Prize. Photo: Gunilla Häggström

He became very interested in numbers at an early age and could write and count up to the number 1000 at the age of 5. He is 27 years old and grew up in Älvsjö with his family. Maths was his main interest until he wanted to apply it. That's when physics came into his life.
"During the final year of the science programme at upper secondary school, I chose to apply for the engineering programme in Engineering Physics at KTH and to apply for a summer job as an exhibition host at Tom Tits Experiment in Södertälje. I got into both, the latter thanks to the strong interest in science but perhaps also thanks to the fact that I had previously taken a course in rhetoric. At Tom Tits I worked several summer holidays interspersed with studying engineering physics at KTH during the rest of the year. I learnt physics and could spread my passion further. Towards the end of my KTH education, I also taught the bachelor courses in mathematics for both physicists and other engineering programmes."

PhD student in cosmology

He did a master's thesis in collaboration with Jens Jasche in the spring of 2021 on measuring distances to galaxies using machine learning to learn about the expansion of the Universe. In July of the same year, he met Magnus Axelsson and worked with him on high-energy astrophysics. In January 2022, Ludvig started his PhD at the Division of Cosmology, Astroparticle Physics and String Theory - COPS.
"I am part of the Learning the Universe collaboration group, which is an initiative from the Simons Foundation via CCA, the Computational Centre for Astrophysics, in New York. For two weeks in September, we will meet to discuss methods for extracting information from observations and large galaxy surveys using AI and machine learning. About 20 projects are underway and about 80 people meet twice a year, once in New York and the other time in another location. Everything is funded by the Simons Foundation, which was founded in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons. In 2016, they set up the Flatiron Institute, consisting of 5 computational centres in the following fields: astrophysics, biology, quantum physics, mathematics and neuroscience."

Recipient of the Magnus Axelsson Prize 2024

By including the popular outreach activity Physics Show in the bachelor's programmes in physics, Ludvig Doeser will receive the Magnus Axelsson Prize in 2024.
"The idea is that the experiments in FysikShow will be motivating for the students. Through a collaboration with Sören Holst, they are introducing this in the teaching of the course Mechanics I, which is one of the sub-courses in Classical Physics on the Bachelor's Programme in Physics. This will take place one or two weeks before the upcoming exams. Students will be shown experiments relevant to the current module and sometimes also to the next module. The plan is to show up at each module of the Classical Physics course."
The Physics Show goes to schools and performs experiments in students' physics lessons. They have also recently introduced a VR headset, where you can view a visualisation of a digital twin of our universe produced by the research group led by Jens Jasche here at COPS to which Ludvig belongs.
"In addition to the schools we will visit during the semesters, we will also organise some events here at the AlbaNova University Centre. On the 9th and 16th of December this year, we will show experiments to invited classes."

Advice to physics students

"Having fun in the moment is important. I've always enjoyed the combination of my own studies and teaching, as well as participating in various outreach events, such as showing and explaining experiments to others. Now on Researcher's Friday, 27 September, I and other members of Physics Show will participate, so please come by and talk to us! Another tip to get a better focus on your studies is through physical exercise, for example I played football for a long time. One more thing: in 2019, I was a summer research student at Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, in Los Angeles and then, in the middle of the pandemic, I was a student at the University of Texas at Austin for an exchange semester. I loved studying abroad and would highly recommend it."

More information

Bachelor's Programme in Physics at Fysikum (180 credits)
Master Programme in Physics (120 credits)
Research article ‘Bayesian Inference of Initial Conditions from Non-Linear Cosmic Structures using Field-Level Emulators’
FysikShow (information in Swedish)
Magnus Axelsson Prize