Christian David Ott

Christian David Ott (born 27 September 1977) is a German former theoretical astrophysicist.

Career

Ott studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he received his diploma in theoretical astrophysics in 2003 under . He then moved to the University of Potsdam where in 2007 he earned an PhD summa cum laude working under Bernard F. Schutz.

Starting in 2009, Ott worked as an Assistant Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute. That same year, he also started working at Caltech as an Assistant Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics. From 2009 to 2014, he was also employed by the Louisiana State University as an Adjunct Assistant Professor.

Research focus Ott dealt with the mechanisms of core-collapse supernovae, generation of gravitational waves and the resulting signatures from various sources, theory of long gamma-ray bursts (collapsar model), and general numerical relativity including scientific computing for massively parallel high-performance computers. He was part of the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) collaboration, contributed to the open-source Einstein Toolkit for numerical relativity, and was a member of the LIGO collaboration.

In 2006, he proposed a new mechanism for core-collapse supernovae in his dissertation (pulsation modes of the proto-neutron star and their damping through acoustic modes), In 2015, he demonstrated in magnetohydrodynamic simulations with others that strong magnetic fields, similar to those of magnetars, can develop in rapidly rotating massive stars (scenario of type Ic supernovae and the formation of long gamma-ray bursts).

Sexual harassment accusations and resignation In late 2015 Ott was placed on unpaid leave from his position at Caltech after a university investigation found that he had violated the school's harassment policy after he was found to have harassed two of his female graduate students, He was originally suspended for 9 months. This was later extended by a year after he was found to have violated the terms of his suspension by contacting one of the complainants. It was also found that Ott violated the school's code of conduct by making up a female researcher who he listed as a co-author in a number of his papers. and Ott went on to resign from his position at Caltech in 2017. Following his resignation, Ott signed a 2-year contract to work at Turku's Tuorla Observatory, however this appointment triggered widespread protests in Finland including an open letter signed by more than 240 academics, which resulted in the agreement being cancelled. since then, he has been working in the field of software engineering. He also contributed to the 2025 Lawrence Krauss book The War on Science.

Awards Potsdam Young Scientist Award (2007) Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society (2008) National Science Foundation Career Grant (2012)