Faculty of Physics
Faculty of Physics
News from the faculty
International Year of Quantum Science and Technology 2025
In 1925, Werner Heisenberg, then assistant to Max Born at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, published his groundbreaking work "On the quantum theoretical reinterpretation of kinematic and mechanical relationships". This moment is considered the birth of quantum mechanics and to mark the occasion, the United Nations proclaimed 2025 as the "International Year of Quantum Science and Technology". A series of events in this context will therefore take place next year at the birthplace of Göttingen, including a special exhibition in the Forum Wissen, the DPG spring meeting of the Matter and Cosmos Section and a DPG autumn meeting of all sections on the quantum year.
International FOR 5522 PhD School on Nonergodic Quantum Dynamics
From Sept. 23 – Sept. 27, 2024 the Faculty of Physics and its Institute for Theoretical Physics will host an international Phd School on Nonergodic Quantum Dynamics, with about 65 participants from 12 countries. The school will address fundamental questions of the non-equilibrium statistical physics of quantum many-body systems: How do the microscopic equations of motion of quantum mechanics lead to thermalization? Are there exceptions, that is, realistic systems that defy thermalization, at least on long time scales? What is the status of experimental research? The school is organized by the DFG Research Unit FOR 5522 that is coordinated at the University of Göttingen.
Glimpse into the nanoworld: microscope reveals tiniest cell processes
What does the inside of a cell really look like? In the past, standard microscopes were limited in how well they could answer this question. Now, researchers from the Universities of Göttingen and Oxford, in collaboration with the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), have succeeded in developing a microscope with resolutions better than five nanometres (five billionths of a metre). This is roughly equivalent to the width of a hair split into 10,000 strands.
"Laser view" into the avocado: new method reveals cell interior
Checking whether an avocado is hard or soft by looking at it? This would require recognizing how the plant cells behave behind the skin. The same applies to all other cells on our planet: Despite more than 100 years of intensive research, many of their properties remain hidden inside the cell. Researchers at the University of Göttingen describe in their recent publication in Nature Materials a new approach that can determine the particularly difficult-to-detect mechanical properties of the cell interior by taking a closer look.
Otto Haxel Award for Yuto Bekki
Dr. Yuto Bekki of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) has been honored with the Otto Haxel Award for Physics for his doctoral dissertation. In collaboration with the German Physical Society (DPG), the Society for the Promotion of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) annually bestows this award upon the three best dissertations in physics from the Universities of Göttingen, Heidelberg, and KIT.
Tutors wanted
For the winter semester 2023/24, we are again looking for HiWis and doctoral students who, for example, supervise exercise groups or internships as tutors. Numerous positions are advertised. Apply here.
The analysis of the universe
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has signed an agreement with an international consortium of institutions to develop and build ANDES, the ArmazoNes High Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph. The ANDES instrument will be installed on ESO's Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The scientific objectives are to search for signs of life on exoplanets, identify the first stars, test variations in the fundamental constants of physics and measure the acceleration of the expansion of the universe. The Institute of Astrophysics and Geophysics at the University of Göttingen is also involved in this project.
Quantum electronics: Charge travels like light in bilayer graphene
An international research team led by the University of Göttingen has demonstrated experimentally that electrons in naturally occurring double-layer graphene move like particles without any mass, in the same way that light travels. Furthermore, they have shown that the current can be “switched” on and off, which has potential for developing tiny, energy-efficient transistors – like the light switch in your house but at a nanoscale.
Young Scientist Award for Professor Viola Priesemann
During this year's spring conference of the German Physical Society (DPG), Professor Viola Priesemann received the Young Scientist Award for Socio- and Econophysics. The physicist conducts research at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and the University of Göttingen. The prize is endowed with 7,500 euros and honors her work on propagation processes in complex systems.
Events
Physics Colloquium
On Monday in lecture hall HS1.
Exhibitions
Faculty of Physics
Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1
Floor B.01, Room 102
D-37077 Göttingen
Tel. +49 (0)551 3924095
Fax +49 (0)551 3924583
dekanat@phys.uni-goettingen.de