Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

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Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
Max Planck Institute for Astronomy
MPI for Astronomy
Category: research Institute
Carrier: Max Planck Society
Legal form of the carrier: Registered association
Seat of the wearer: Munich
Facility location: Heidelberg ,
on the Königstuhl
Branch office: astrolab.uni-jena.de
Type of research: Basic research
Subjects: Natural sciences
Areas of expertise: astronomy
Basic funding: Federal government (50%),
states (50%)
Management: Thomas Henning ,
Hans-Walter Rix
(Managing Director)
Employee: 413
Homepage: mpia.de
Logo of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy

The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) is a non-university research facility sponsored by the Max Planck Society (MPG) and is based in Heidelberg on the Königstuhl in the immediate vicinity of the State Observatory . The institute primarily conducts basic research in the field of natural sciences in the field of astronomy .

In addition to its own astronomical observations and astronomical research, the institute is also actively involved in the development of observation instruments. The devices or parts of them are manufactured in our own workshops.

history

The establishment of the institute in 1967 resulted from the insight that a supraregional institute equipped with powerful telescopes was necessary in order to be able to conduct internationally competitive astronomical research. The astronomer Hans Elsässer became the founding director in 1968 . In February 1969, a first group of 5 employees started work in the buildings of the neighboring Königstuhl State Observatory . The institute, which was completed in 1975, was initially dedicated to the preparation and evaluation of astronomical observations and the development of new measurement methods.

From 1973 to 1984, together with Spanish agencies, it set up the Calar Alto Observatory on Calar Alto near Almería . This largest observatory on mainland Europe was used equally by astronomers from both countries until 2019. On May 23, 2019, the regional government of Andalusia and the MPG signed a transfer agreement for the 50% share in the observatory. Since then it has been exclusively in Spanish ownership.

Since 2005 the MPIA has been operating the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and its equipment with measuring instruments together with partners from Germany, Italy and the USA . The LBT is located on the 3190 m high Mount Graham near Tucson , Arizona. It has two main mirrors on its mount, each 8.4 meters in diameter, making it the largest single optical telescope in the world that consists of individual main mirrors.

research

Two scientific questions are primarily dealt with at the MPIA. One of them is about the formation and development of stars and planets in our cosmic neighborhood. The question also resonates: Is the sun with its animated planet earth unique or do other stars, at least the numerous sun-like ones among them, also have life-friendly conditions? On the other hand, the area of ​​galaxies and cosmology is about understanding the development of today's richly structured universe with its galaxies and stars and its emergence from the simple initial state after the Big Bang.

The research topics at a glance:

Together with the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg , the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and the Department of Astro and Particle Physics at the MPI for Nuclear Physics (MPIK), the MPIA in Heidelberg forms a globally recognized focus of astronomical research.

Since 2015, the MPIA has been running the Heidelberg Initiative for the Origins of Life (HIFOL) together with the MPIK, the HITS, the Institute for Geosciences at the University of Heidelberg and the Department of Chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich (LMU ). HIFOL brings together top researchers from astrophysics, geosciences, chemistry and the life sciences in order to promote, strengthen and bundle scientific research into the prerequisites for the origin of life.

Instrumentation

The MPIA has built instruments or parts thereof for a number of ground-based observatories and research satellites.

The MPIA also participates in the Gaia mission . Gaia is a space mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), during which the exact positions, distances and speeds of around one billion stars in the Milky Way are determined.

Directors

Infrastructure

The managing director is Hans-Walter Rix (as of August 2019). Former and current external scientific members of the MPIA were and are:

At the end of 2018, a total of 413 employees were working at the institute, including 227 scientists, including 34 young and visiting scientists. In the same year, 79 doctoral students were supervised in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg. As of 2018, nine independent research groups have been set up at the MPIA. These include three Max Planck research groups and five European research groups. Another group is funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation .

International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS)

The MPIA is involved in the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics . The IMPRS is an English-language doctoral program that started work in 2005. Other partners of the IMPRS are the MPI for Nuclear Physics , the Center for Astronomy of the University of Heidelberg and the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies . The IMPRS has been part of the Heidelberg Graduate School of Fundamental Physics since 2007 . The IMPRS speakers are Hans-Walter Rix from MPIA and Stefan Wagner from the State Observatory in Heidelberg.

public relation

The institute is the editorial office of the generally understandable magazine Sterne und Weltraum , which was brought into being in 1962 by the later founding director of the MPIA, Hans Elsässer , among others . It is also the patron of the “Science in Schools!” Initiative, within the framework of which didactic materials are developed for school lessons. In December 2008 the institute and the Klaus Tschira Foundation announced that they wanted to bundle the activities of the Heidelberg astronomers in public relations and in work with students and teachers in a newly founded House of Astronomy .

literature

  • Dietrich Lemke: In the sky over Heidelberg. 40 years of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg (1969–2009). Archive of the Max Planck Society, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-927579-25-5 .
  • Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. 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 A – L. ( PDF; 75 MB ), pages 109–126 (chronology of the institute).

Web links

Commons : Max Planck Institute for Astronomy  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b C. Fendt, Th. Henning, M. Kürster, M. Nielbock, M. Pössel, H.-W. Rix et al .: MPIA Annual Report 2018 . Ed .: Markus Pössel, Markus Nielbock. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, August 2019, ISSN  1437-2924 .
  2. Institutes and experts. In: mpg.de. Max Planck Society, accessed on August 8, 2019 .
  3. ^ A b Dietrich Lemke: In the sky over Heidelberg. 40 years of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg (1969–2009) . In: Lorenz F. Beck, Marion Kazemi (ed.): Publications from the archive of the Max Planck Society . tape 21 . Archive of the Max Planck Society, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-927579-25-5 .
  4. Junta de Andalucía and the Max Planck Institute make official the transfer of 50% of the Calar Alto Observatory. In: CAHA.es. Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán, May 23, 2019, accessed on August 7, 2019 .
  5. ^ Heidelberg Initiative for the Origins of Life (HIFOL). In: MPIA.de. Retrieved on August 22, 2019 .
  6. ^ A b c d e Eckart Henning , Marion Kazemi : Handbook on the history of the institutes of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science, 1911–2011. Data and sources . In: Max Planck Society (ed.): 100 Years of the Kaiser Wilhelm / Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science. Part II / 1 . tape 1 . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-428-13623-0 , pp. 109 ff . ( Online [PDF; 75.0 MB ]).
  7. Markus Nielbock, Klaus Jäger: Laura Kreidberg new third director at the MPIA. Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, press release from May 5, 2020 from the Science Information Service (idw-online.de), accessed on May 8, 2020.
  8. ^ George Wallerstein: Karl-Heinz Hermann Böhm. In: physicstoday.scitation.org. June 5, 2014, accessed August 8, 2019 .
  9. ^ The Directory. In: MPIA.de. Institute website, accessed on August 8, 2019 .
  10. Early autonomy with your own budget. In: mpg.de. Max Planck Society, accessed on August 16, 2019 .
  11. Topcial graduate schools. In: hgsfp.uni-heidelberg.de. HGSFP - Heidelberg Graduate School for Physics, accessed on August 16, 2019 .
  12. ^ IMPRS officials. In: imprs-hd.mpg.de. International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD), accessed on August 16, 2019 .
  13. Patrons. In: Wissenschaft-Schulen.de. Science in Schools! - WIS, accessed on August 16, 2019 .

Coordinates: 49 ° 23 ′ 47 "  N , 8 ° 43 ′ 23"  E