Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

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Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
MPI for Solar System Research
Category: research Institute
Carrier: Max Planck Society
Legal form of the carrier: Registered association
Seat of the wearer: Munich
Facility location: Goettingen
Type of research: Basic research
Subjects: Natural sciences
Areas of expertise: astronomy
Basic funding: Federal government (50%), states (50%)
Management: Laurent Gizon (Managing Director)
Employee: approx. 320
Homepage: www.mps.mpg.de

The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) is based in Göttingen , Lower Saxony . The MPS is a research facility in the field of astronomy and astrophysics. It is part of the Max Planck Society , which comprises a total of 86 institutes.

Until 2004 the institute was called the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy . It goes back to two previous institutions, the Max Planck Institute for Physics of the Stratosphere and the Institute for Ionospheric Research in the Max Planck Society .

history

The MPS in Katlenburg-Lindau (2006)

The since 1934 at the test site of the Air Force in Rechlin at the Müritz employed Walter Dieminger studied there in the Special Group radio propagation of electromagnetic waves in the atmosphere. An ionosphere observation point was first set up in Rechlin, then from 1940 in Tromsø , Kjeller , Meudon , Syracuse and Nikolajew . The stations made continuous measurements with ion probes and also observed the fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field . The staff provided their own air news company, whose boss until the end of 1944 was Walter Grotrian . The measurement data of the stations were used from 1940 by a radio forecast and warning service. In 1942 all services were combined in a central office for radio advice under Dieminger's management. From 1943, the central office was in Leobersdorf, Lower Austria . The central office evacuated to Ried im Innkreis in autumn 1944 was merged there with the Fraunhofer Institute of the Reich Office for High Frequency Research from Freiburg, which Dieminger also took on provisional management.

After the end of the war, the British researcher William Roy Piggott moved the core of the facility to Lindau (Harz) in the British occupation zone in late summer 1945 , where it was named Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Research in March 1946 . The evacuation was carried out by the RAF under wing commander Eric Ackerman. His ELINT department was concerned with the investigation of Russian radio traffic and urgently needed the radio propagation forecasts from the Central Office for Radio Advice . The British occupation authorities initially did not allow any research; the institute produced devices for sale.

In April 1947, as the Fraunhofer Radio Institute in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society , the institute was placed under the administration of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society and research was re-authorized. In 1948 the administration was transferred to the Max Planck Society . In January 1949 the name was changed to the Institute for Ionospheric Research in the administration of the Max Planck Society , and in October 1951 the institute was finally fully integrated into the Max Planck Society as the Institute for Ionospheric Research in the Max Planck Society.

In December 1937, Erich Regener , who had been relieved of his chair in physics at the Technical University of Stuttgart by the National Socialists, founded the private research center for physics of the stratosphere in Friedrichshafen , but had to integrate it into the Kaiser Wilhelm Society in April 1938. The decision to join the Senate of the Society for the Research Center for Physics of the Stratosphere in the Kaiser Wilhelm Society was passed on May 30, 1938. For altitude research, the research center developed, among other things, a scientific payload for the unit 4 (A4) - also known as the " V2 ". In 1944 the research center had to be relocated to Weißenau (now Ravensburg) due to the war.

In 1949 the Max Planck Society took over the research center, which in 1952 became the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of the Stratosphere . With the appointment of Göttingen professor Julius Bartels as the new director in 1955, the institute was relocated to Lindau am Harz , where the Institute for Ionospheric Research was already located.

In 1956 the two institutes were merged into the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of the Stratosphere and the Ionosphere , within which they remained scientifically independent as sub-institutes. In 1958 the institute was renamed the Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy (MPAe) and the sub-institutes were renamed the Institute for Ionospheric Physics and the Institute for Stratospheric Physics . Dieminger and Bartels became co-directors. After Dieminger's retirement as the last of the two original directors, the sub-institutes were merged in 1975 and a department structure was created instead.

As a result, the research focus increasingly shifted to the atmosphere, ionosphere and magnetosphere of extraterrestrial bodies, including the solar atmosphere , the interplanetary medium and radiation in all of these areas. The extremely successful missions of Galileo and SOHO fall during this time. The changes in the context of reunification with the establishment of new Max Planck Institutes in the new federal states forced the closure of institutes in the old federal states, which should initially also affect the Institute for Aeronomy. Among other things, the already promised cooperations within the framework of the Rosetta mission were an argument against the complete closure. In 1997 the Max Planck Society decided to concentrate on solar and planetary physics for the Institute for Aeronomy and to partially close the institute with a medium-term reduction from four to two directors with the upcoming retirement in 2004 and 2007. In 2004 the Max Planck Society was The Planck Institute for Aeronomy was renamed the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in line with the changed tasks .

The location in Göttingen.

In December 2009, the decision was made that the MPS would move to Göttingen in 2014 .

research

The institute is divided into three departments, each with a different research focus. In addition to research, another important area is the development and construction of instruments for space missions. The International Max Planck Research School , a three-year doctoral program , has also existed since 2002 .

Sun and heliosphere

Research contents of the department are the interior of the sun, the solar atmosphere, the solar magnetic field, the heliosphere and the interplanetary medium as well as radiation and high-energy particles from the sun. The department makes a significant contribution to ESA's Solar Orbiter mission. In addition to numerous other participations in space missions, the department heads the Sunrise balloon mission, a balloon-borne observatory that examines the sun from an altitude of around 35 km.

Planets and comets

The department investigates the interior, surfaces, atmospheres, ionospheres and magnetospheres of planets, their rings and moons, as well as comets and asteroids. The most important space missions to which the department is currently or has contributed include the missions JUICE to the Jupiter system, BepiColombo to Mercury and Insight to Mars. Other important missions with MPS participation are Rosetta to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and Dawn to the asteroid belt.

Inside of the sun and stars

The department deals with the internal structure and dynamics of the sun and stars. To do this, she uses methods of helio and asteroseismology. In this way, the theory of star structure and evolution can be tested and further developed, and thereby come closer to an understanding of solar and stellar magnetism. The department operates the German data center of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory mission and is preparing the establishment of the data center for ESA's exoplanet mission PLATO.

Projects

The institute works on many international science projects. The MPS participates in space missions in the development of instruments, some of which are managed by the institute, in the provision of resources for data analysis and in theoretical research work.

Current and future space missions are:

Completed space missions include:

PhD program

The International Max Planck Research School for Solar System Science at the University of Göttingen is an English-language doctoral program in physics. In the IMPRS Solar System School, the MPS and the University of Göttingen offer a three-year structured graduate program in which around 50 doctoral students research topics related to the physics of the solar system.

literature

  • Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy , in: Eckart Henning , Marion Kazemi : Handbook on the history of the institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science 1911–2011 - Data and Sources , Berlin 2016, 2 volumes, volume 1 : Institutes and research centers AL ( online, PDF 75 MB ), pages 46–64, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Volume 2: Institutes and research centers MZ ( online, PDF 75 MB ), pages 1492–1499 (chronology of the institutes).

Web links

Commons : Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Facts & Figures. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  2. ↑ http://www.mps.mpg.de/institut/geschichte
  3. ↑ Schaumburger Nachrichten of June 4, 2014
  4. ↑ Solar system researchers move to Göttingen Report on HNA.de from May 12, 2010
  5. ↑ IMPRS solar system research. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  6. ^ Department: Sun and Heliosphere. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  7. ^ Department: Planets and Comets. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  8. ^ Department: The Inside of the Sun and Stars. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  9. ↑ Europlanet 2020. Accessed May 23, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Projects. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .
  11. ↑ Projects. Retrieved May 23, 2020 .


Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 37 ″  N , 9 ° 56 ′ 55 ″  E