Rudolf Hanel
Photo by Zita Koever
Medical University of Vienna
Spitalgasse 23
1090 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 1 40160 36254
Fax: +43 1 40160 936250
E-Mail: rudolf.hanel@meduniwien.ac.at
CV | Publications | Talks | Projects
Rudolf Hanel is with the Complex Systems Research Group since 2007. Since finishing his PhD 1999 in theoretical physics and following postgraduate training in medical physics he is working and publishing extensively on a diverse set of topics ranging from Statistical Physics over Robotics to Medical Imaging, Complex Systems and Evolution and has presented results in talks on several international conferences and universities.
He was involved in scientific research at the Department of Diagnostic Radiology University of Vienna where he developed an experimental Virtual Endoscopy tool and the Department of Theoretical Physics at the KU Leuven working on statistical properties of neural networks. He was with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, University of Vienna, working on a project on medical robotics in cooperation with the Austrian research Center (ARC) and later with VisionLab, Department of Physics, University of Antwerp, working mainly on MR image enhancement. Since 2007 he is member of the Complex Systems Research Group. For R. Hanel participating in both theoretical and applied science has proven to be a highly fascinating and instructive way to spend his time in the tension between physical grounding and creative generalization of theoretical concepts which serves both his broad spectrum of interest and his inclination towards mathematics.
Rudolf Hanels current interests aim at a thorough understanding of non equilibrium processes, their thermodynamic properties and associated phase transitions, and tipping phenomena, i.e. leaps of creative destruction in the evolution of complex non equilibrium systems.
R. Hanel: Science is driven by explanatory needs and evolves by variation and selection of ideas. We try to develop adequate theoretical tools for understanding the difficult field of non equilibrium processes by advancing our understanding simultaneously into a number of different directions. Network theory, as a mathematical tool, stands central but rather as a means than an end. We try to keep the theoretical concepts we work on physically grounded. Evolution, bioinformatics, econophysics, systemic risk and lately social sciences, with topics like opinion formation and bureaucratic inefficiency, provide interesting problems for advancing and testing theoretical concepts. It is very exciting how actually a relatively small number of fundamental ideas and concepts suffice to understand a highly diverse spectrum of phenomena in principle. The diversity of possible applications in the field helps us to keep thinking out of and across boxes and stimulates creative thinking. On the other hand the physical grounding implies to eventually test theoretical concepts, which have sufficiently matured, experimentally.
In his spare time R. Hanel likes, besides many other things, to play piano and guitar and occasionally to jam with friends.