Ralf Johannes Josephus Mackenbach[1] (born 4 October 1995) is a Dutch plasma physicist, artist and former child singer, best known for winning the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 with the song "Click Clack".[2] He is the first and, to date, only Dutch winner of the contest.
Mackenbach was born in Eindhoven,[1] and grew up in Best, North Brabant.[3] As a child, he starred in the musicals Tarzan and Beauty and the Beast.[4] He attended Amsterdam's dancing academy Lucia Marthas, and studied acting at Centrum voor de Kunsten Eindhoven (CKE) in Eindhoven.[5]
Mackenbach at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010 in Minsk
Mackenbach's debut album Ralf achieved a top 10 spot in the Dutch album charts and entered the Flemish album charts at number 59.[9] In March 2011, it achieved gold status with over 25,000 sales.[10]
After graduating secondary school with a VWO certificate, Mackenbach studied at the Eindhoven University of Technology. In 2019, he finished a master's degree in nuclear fusion, for which he wrote the dissertation Numerical Modelling of Mode Penetration in Cylindrical Geometries Using M3D-C1.[12]
Continuing his studies at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Mackenbach completed his PhD cum laude in November 2023 with a thesis titled Available Energy: A compass for navigating the nonlinear landscape of fusion plasma turbulence.[1] Since 2024, he is a postdoctoral researcher at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).[13]
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