Sarah Pappert holds a component no bigger than her fingernail—one of thousands of precisely engineered pieces that will soon help the world's largest telescope peer billions of years into the past. The Ph.D. candidate in astrophysics at TUM School of Natural Sciences is developing the optical systems for MICADO, the first-light camera of the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile, a 39-meter giant that will reshape what we know about the universe's oldest and most distant secrets.
For decades, astrophysicists have puzzled over a fundamental question: how do galaxies and the supermassive black holes at their hearts form and evolve together? Working under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Reinhard Genzel and Prof. Dr. Frank Eisenhauer at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Pappert is at the forefront of answering it. Her work focuses on a specialized optical system for high-resolution spectroscopy—essentially breaking down light into its different wavelengths to trace where it came from and what it encountered on its journey to Earth. By studying the spectrum, scientists can reveal the chemical composition and properties of distant stars and galaxies, as well as the gas and dust clouds that light has traveled through.
What makes this work remarkable isn't just the science, but the engineering precision required. Many of the instrument components Pappert develops are only a few millimeters in size, despite the telescope's enormous primary mirror. "When I first saw these components myself, I could hardly believe it," she recalls. "It's a striking example of how effectively the telescope can focus the collected light onto a tiny point." The most distant galaxies often appear as little more than faint pinpricks of light to the naked eye, yet these miniaturized optical systems will extract astonishing amounts of information from them—allowing astronomers to look billions of years back into the universe's past.
Pappert's research focuses on two areas that captivate her imagination. The first is understanding how galaxies and their central supermassive black holes influence each other's development. The second is searching for galaxies with two supermassive black holes at their centers—systems that could reveal the mechanics of galaxy mergers. "What makes this field so exciting to me is the combination of major advances and so many unanswered questions," she says.
Beyond her research, Pappert has become a voice for science itself. She actively engages in school outreach, particularly to encourage girls and young women to pursue STEM careers. One memory stays with her: her first university presentation, when she brought a retired detector as a demonstration object. A student's detailed questions were so probing that Pappert had to consult technical documentation herself. "That experience was incredibly motivating because it showed me how valuable these events can be—not only for identifying young talent, but also for inspiring enthusiasm for science," she reflects. More recently, at a Girls' Day event at the Max Planck Institute, participants became so engaged in discussing the Big Bang that their questions pushed the scientists to the limits of their own knowledge.
This commitment to inspiring the next generation has earned Pappert recognition on a global stage: she is one of only 16 young women scientists worldwide to receive the 2026 Zonta Women in STEM Award. As she continues developing the optical systems that will unlock the universe's deepest mysteries, she carries with her the memory of sitting in those students' seats, thinking: "That's what I want to do one day."