Congratulations to Dr. Paul Markowski, Professor of Meteorology, who has been awarded the first ever Nikolai Dotzek Award of the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL).   The Nikolai Dotzek Award was established in 2011 in the memory of ESSL's first director and founding father, Dr. Nikolai Dotzek, who passed away in May 2010. He was a binding factor within the European community of severe storms scientists well before ESSL's foundation in 2006, and is remembered for his innumerable efforts to promote European collaboration in the field. His ultimate aim was to increase the understanding of severe storms and tornadoes, to assess the risk they pose, and to create awareness for their existence and thus increase society's resilience to them.  The purpose of the award is to recognize outstanding contributions to the science of severe storms.

Dr. Markowski received the award for his outstanding work towards finding out why some supercell storms produce tornadoes and others do not. He has made important contributions toward answering this question by studying in detail the differences between tornadic and non-tornadic storms using data both from field observations and numerical modelling experiments. In addition to being a recognition of Dr. Markowski's great achievements, the award is intended as a strong encouragement to continue with this important work.

He was presented with the award at the European Conference on Severe Storms, which was held in Balearic Islands, Spain from October 3-7, 2011.

For more information on the Nikolai Dotzek Award, please visit:  http://www.essl.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82