Lectures and discussions for schoolchildren on the topic of the ‘Universe’
With speakers from the PRISMA+ Cluster of Excellence at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
With Matthias Neubert and Jens Temmen. KINO CAPITOL Neubrunnenstraße 9 55116 Mainz
With Matthias Neubert, Peter Kiefer and Tim Otto Roth. Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz.
Moderation: Prof. Dr. Matthias Neubert, Prof. Dr. Hartmut Wittig,
Lectures: Dr. Christian Schmitt, Elisa Lohfink, Ahmed Ouf, Daniel Wenz, Rahima Krini
6.30 p.m., Kleines Haus, Mainz State Theater
On the trail of the mysteries of the universe – research highlights from 10 years of the PRISMA cluster of excellence” … this was the title of a celebratory anniversary event held on October 10 at the Staatsthater Mainz as a special edition of the popular “Physics in the Theater” series. The two presenters and PRISMA+ spokespersons, Prof. Dr. Matthias Neubert and Prof. Dr. Hartmut Wittig, took the guests on an exciting journey through time and around the world, looking back on important research highlights of the last ten years. The journey began in 2012 at CERN with the discovery of the HIggs particle, in which scientists from Mainz were also involved, and ended in 2022 in Mainz, where the new MESA electron accelerator is currently being built.
Young scientists from the cluster in particular had their say, giving entertaining short talks and interviews about the Higgs particle, the puzzle of the proton radius, the hunt for neutrinos, the search for dark matter and the construction of MESA as well as the planned experiments. A new image film also premiered in the theater – and describes the PRISMA+ research program with catchy statements and impressive images.
Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke: “Light in the Dark: Black Holes, the Universe and Us”
7 p.m., Großes Haus, Mainz State Theater.
After a long break due to the coronavirus pandemic, the “Physics in the Theater” series will be back for the first time on Sunday, 21 November. As always, all those interested in physics can expect an incredibly exciting topic, because it’s about a world sensation: on April 10, 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (a global network of radio telescopes) published the first image of a black hole – a turning point in astronomy! In his lecture, astrophysicist Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke, a leading scientist in this experiment, will explain how this came about – from the first glances people took up to the sky to modern astrophysics, the exploration of black holes and the still unrevealed secrets of the universe – and what this has to do with him and us humans.
The parliamentary evening “Dark matter, quantum computing, COVID vaccine: precision becomes innovation” will take place as part of the anniversary year “75 years of the reopening of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz” at the State Representation of Rhineland-Palatinate in Berlin and via livestream – with the opening of the exhibition PRÄZISION!
Is the zoo of particles formed from quarks more diverse than the textbooks say? One possible candidate, passing six quarks, will be the focus of the third lecture of the “STRONG-2020 Public Lecture Series”, March 11, 2021, 4:00 pm.
In 2021, the lecture series will mainly focus on applications of physics in medicine, with particles, optics and rays. But theoretical physics will not be neglected either.
The scientists Prof. Dr. Randolf Pohl (Mainz) and Prof. Dr. Jan Bernauer (Stony Brook) will jointly discuss the proton radius puzzle. The lecture will be held in English and marks the start of the new series “The STRONG-2020 Public Lecture Series”.
At the premiere of the Big!Bang!Slam! – our physics science slam special – five young scientists from Mainz rocked the stage. They presented their research topics in a creative, entertaining and understandable way and took the online audience on a journey into the fascinating world of physics. And these were the topics:
- Saskia Plura: “Of Captain Kirk and children’s birthdays”
- Noah Yazdandoost: “Tracking down the big questions of the universe with small particles”
- Lennart Adam: “The, the, the – who, how, what – why, why, W-boson?”
- Sven Baumholzer: “Dark matter: a fertilizer for the cosmos”
- Hector Masia Roig: “The Haunted Castle”
Fellows of the Mainz Physics Academy of the PRISMA+ cluster of excellence have launched a new series of events: Under the title “Talkshow Campus Mainz”, they are inviting renowned guests to share their professional and personal journeys with the audience. For the premiere of the series on February 5, 2020, the hosts Bianka Mecaj, Jan Weldert, Marius Köppel and Victoria Durant welcome two company founders from Frankfurt: Maike Benner and Lilli Rohde – originally at home in the financial sector – founded the international consulting & coaching company MaLish two years ago.
At the joint stand of the Helmholtz Institute Mainz and the Prisma+ Cluster of Excellence, the focus was on the question of how to make particles mobile. Visitors could see how the smallest particles are brought to the speed of light in the accelerator facilities at Johannes Gutenberg University and those with sporting ambition could test what the world looks like from their perspective.
Interaction
Various hands-on experiments gave visitors the opportunity to conduct their own research on physical topics:
- What happens when we travel at the speed of light?
- How do you accelerate small particles?
- How do balloons and foam kisses behave in a vacuum?
The exhibition ‘Women of Mathematics and beyond’ staged by the Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science and the PRISMA Cluster of Excellence at JGU was officially opened on Monday, 11th June. It profiles 22 female researchers working in the fields of mathematics and physics, and is designed to encourage young female science students to pursue an academic career to make up for the underrepresentation of women in their subjects.
Just finishing your B.Sc.? Thinking about graduate studies? How about taking a 5-week programme (without tuition fees) that provides intensive training in fundamental physics with lectures and mentoring by leading scientists, the opportunity to network with international researchers, and an individual lab course to work on your own project, as well as an optional language course and cultural program? Travel and accommodation grants are available. Apply by December 15th, 2017.
Organizers: Joachim Kopp (JGU Mainz), Felix Yu (JGU Mainz), Anna Kaminska (JGU Mainz), Maikel de Vries (JGU Mainz), Matthias Neubert (JGU Mainz)
August 7 – 25, 2017, Erbacher Hof in Mainz
The application is open until March 31, 2017.
The Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics will host a summer school for Ph.D. students in theoretical physics. Attendance will be limited to 50-60 students, who will be hosted at the Erbacher Hof in downtown Mainz. The theme for the second summer school is “Joint Challenges for Cosmology and Colliders,” which will focus on the biggest open questions in cosmology and complementary probes at the LHC.
The school is primarily focused on astrophysics and collider physics, including driving questions about dark matter, neutrino physics, baryogenesis, the Higgs mechanism, the strong CP problem, and the cosmological history of the universe.
The lecture schedule will be complemented by discussion sessions and social activities to encourage networking and a vivid exchange of ideas. Applicants should be in the later stages of their Ph.D. career and are expected to commit to the full three week program.
Guinness World Records™ confirms Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz as holder of the world record for the largest magnetic ball accelerator / Hundreds of visitors fascinated by insights into the world of physics
By building the largest magnetic ball accelerator in the world, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) set a new world record officially recognized by Guinness World RecordsTM on 11 June 2017. The ball accelerator with a total length of 546 meters — alluding to the date of the reopening of Mainz University in May 1946 — was constructed on the streetcar rails that run next to the campus and here produced a chain reaction caused by magnetic forces. Fundamental physical principles underlie the chain reaction concept employed: magnetic forces are used to accelerate the speed of rolling steel balls; by exploiting the transfer of momentum between the accelerated balls, a reaction similar to a domino effect can be generated, which — once triggered — can continue over many hundreds of meters. This world record takes up aspects of the research being undertaken at the JGU Cluster of Excellence PRISMA and the MAINZ Graduate School of Excellence and presents basic physics concepts in a popular scientific demonstration. The Guinness World Records experiment was organized by PRISMA and realized in cooperation with two high schools in Mainz, namely the Rabanus Maurus Gymnasium and the Otto Schott Gymnasium. The record event took place under the patronage of the Rhineland-Palatinate Minister of Education, Dr. Stefanie Hubig, and the Minister of Science, Continuing Education and Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate, Professor Konrad Wolf.
This year’s celebrations to mark the Day of German Unity on October 3 took place in the state capital Mainz. In addition to the protocol events, the two-day citizens’ festival was the focus of the celebrations, providing an insight into the city’s cultural and creative scene as well as the state’s scientific landscape.
Interested citizens and visitors were able to learn about physics at the IceCube Ice large-scale experiment in the science tent and travel to the depths of the Antarctic ice with 3D glasses. The ATLAS exhibit showed part of a panel that is itself part of a new detector system at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which will enable even more precise electron measurements. The scientists in Mainz are experts in the construction of these very flat panels.
More than 50,000 people attended the “Highlights of Physics” science festival in Münster from September 18 to 23, 2017. Under this year’s motto “Structure and Symmetry”, the focus was on current research from Particle Physics to Geophysics.
PRISMA member Professor Dr. Frank Maas and four members of his work group were invited to present the P2 experiment at MESA to the public. The aim of the P2 collaboration’s research is to precisely measure the parity-violating asymmetry in the elastic scattering of polarized electrons on unpolarized nuclei.
“Highlights of Physics” is an annual event organized by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Physical Society (DPG) and the respective host university and is sponsored by many institutions. Pupils in particular enthusiastically take up the offer of numerous workshops and hands-on projects.
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) celebrated the start of the anniversary of its reopening 70 years ago with an academic ceremony. The eulogy for one of Germany’s largest higher education institutions was appropriately polyphonic: Minister President Malu Dreyer congratulated her alma mater, researchers presented their work and JGU President Prof. Dr. Georg Krausch ventured a look into the future of the university – framed by the symphonic congratulations of the Collegium musicum made up of JGU students, teaching staff and employees.
Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) officially opened at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
11.05.2015
The inauguration of the Guest and Seminar Center today marked the official opening of the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) on the campus of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU). The institute was founded in 2013 as part of the Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter (PRISMA) cluster of excellence. The Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics is an international research center whose concept is based on globally successful theory institutes such as the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) in Santa Barbara or the Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics (GGI) in Florence. The MITP has quickly established itself within the international scientific community in the field of physics and has taken on the role of a world-renowned theoretical center.
MITP provides resources in the form of rooms as well as personnel and financial support that allow external scientists to organize multi-week scientific programmes or shorter workshops in Mainz on the diverse current and important issues of theoretical elementary particle, astroparticle and hadron physics. The focus is on networking between the different fields of theoretical physics, but also on the exchange with co-workers working experimentally. The newly created premises of the guest center provide offices for 33 external scientists, a seminar room equipped with modern Technics Department and an attractive discussion area (“lounge”). Everything is designed to enable efficient and pleasant working conditions and to stimulate scientific exchange and cooperation between the various disciplines. As part of the MITP guest program, individual guests are also offered the opportunity to live and research in Mainz for a longer period of time.
The theory center is organized by the scientific community for the scientific community: The external organizers are responsible for the scientific program, the MITP provides the necessary infrastructure for its implementation. From the proposals submitted for the scientific programs, an international body (“Advisory Board”) of renowned scientists selects those that are most convincing in terms of content and concept.
Seven programs and five workshops have been held since 2013. In 2014, more than 250 scientists visited the MITP and exchanged ideas on current topics such as dark matter, physics beyond the standard model and string theory. The support provided by the MITP was acknowledged by the participants of the scientific programs and workshops held in 2014 in 75 publications and preprints. A further six programs and four workshops will be held in 2015. Thematically, the scientists will then deal with neutrino physics and its growing importance for astroparticle physics, the search for new particles at the LHC and the contributions of lattice QCD to the verification of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, among other topics. Together with the Research Training Group funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), “Symmetry Breaking in Fundamental Interactions”, the MITP organized an international summer school in September 2014.
With the extremely popular public lecture series “Physics in the Theater”, the MITP is also actively involved in knowledge transfer on site. For this format, topics from current research are prepared in a generally understandable way and presented to the interested public by top-class scientists. The lectures are deliberately held off campus in order to literally “take science outside”. In May 2014, for example, Professor Dr. Rolf Heuer, Director General of the European research center CERN near Geneva, shared the discovery of the Higgs particle with more than 900 guests in the main auditorium of the Mainz State Theater and inspired them with his exciting insights into CERN’s research activities and its role in the transfer of knowledge and international understanding. The next lecture in this series will take place on June 27, 2015. Dr. Paolo Ferri, head of the Rosetta mission of the European Space Agency ESA, will explain in his lecture how the Rosetta mission was the first time in the history of space travel that a rendezvous with a comet took place.
The kick-off meeting of the Irène Joliot-Curie program will take place on 12.12.2013. All women and scientists involved in PRISMA are cordially invited to attend. Details on the procedure can be found on the information sheet on the right.
The Irène Joliot-Curie Program of the PRISMA cluster of excellence serves to grant women in all scientific career phases in the cluster and in its wider research environment. In addition to a blog, further offers are to be developed, e.g. workshops or training courses on specific topics, coaching offers or the establishment of a mentoring network. In addition to the blog, comments and analyses, wishes and suggestions will be presented at the kick-off meeting in the “World Café” discussion forum. Keynote speaker Andrea Löther from the Center of Excellence Women in Science will get us in the mood for the work in thematic workshops with her presentation on women in science.
In the Irène Joliot-Curie blog for women in and around the PRISMA cluster of excellence, PRISMA researcher Concettina Sfienti reports on all facets of a scientific career. It not only offers support, tips, tricks and practical information for all career steps, but above all provides space for discussion and exchange among the women in PRISMA, who are invited to participate in the conception of the program and contribute their own ideas – social media and real life complement each other. The blog is therefore a platform for all those who do not want to rely on chance when planning their career as a female scientist – chance does bring opportunities, but it is much easier to find out which ones really lead to the goal through professional planning, targeted support, experienced contact persons and communication with colleagues.
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) today officially opened its Cluster of Excellence ‘Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter’ (PRISMA). Around 250 scientists have thus officially begun their work in the new research association, which successfully emerged from the latest phase of the Excellence Initiative.
The Joint Commission of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science Council and the responsible federal and state ministers approved the Cluster of Excellence Precision Physics, Fundamental Interactions and Structure of Matter (PRISMA) on June 15, 2012.
The coordinators of the cluster and the President of Johannes Gutenberg University invite you to the opening ceremony on November 5, 2012.
