Mourning Stella Seitz

We mourn the loss of our member Dr. Stella Seitz. Stella passed away on 13 July 2025, leaving a huge gap in many areas. As a Senior Staff Astronomer at the LMU University Observatory, where she worked for over three decades, Stella was a valuable and very active member of our cluster initiatives from the very beginning. With great enthusiasm and energy, she was involved in the C2PAP Governing Committee, the Scientific Advisory Board of MIAPbP, and the Selection Committee for SEED projects, thereby contributing significantly to the success of the Universe and ORIGINS clusters.

 

Dr. Stella Seitz joined the University Observatory in 1998, after completing a PhD at the Max-Planck-Institute of Astrophysics, and became a pillar of this institution. She was an expert who laid down some of the very foundations of gravitational lensing and realized early on the potential of large sky surveys and modern AI methods in astrophysics. As a dedicated and passionate educator, she initiated the astrophysics lab, which provided hands-on training for hundreds of students.

We are deeply grateful for her commitment and dedication. Our heartfelt condolences go out to Stella's family.