Faculty of Physics and Astronomy Heidelberg University

Fakultät für Physik und Astronomie (Heidelberg University)

Heidelberg University

The Faculty of Physics and Astronomy is dedicated to research and teaching in a broad program. She feels committed to the Humboldtian ideal of research-based teaching and sees her research program at the limits of knowledge as a prerequisite for the high-quality education of her students.

More details about Faculty of Physics and Astronomy:

Physics and astronomy have been the subject of teaching and research in Heidelberg since the university was founded. In the 19th century, important scientists such as Gustav Robert Kirchhoff and Hermann Helmholtz stood on the path of physics from a more speculative to an exact science.
In the 20th century, the astronomer Max Wolf worked here as well as the Nobel Prize laureates Philip Lenard, Walther Bothe - who initiated the reconstruction of physics after World War II - and Hans Jensen, who was appointed to the new chair for theoretical physics in 1949 of the research spectrum of Heidelberg Physics to the diversity of today's Faculty of Physics and Astronomy began. Today this spectrum has reached a great breadth with a focus on both basic research and the application of physical methods. Particle physics (high energy physics, heavy ion physics, atomic and neutron physics) deals with the question of the fundamental building blocks in nature and their interactions with one another.

When a large number of particles interact, collective phenomena occur, which enable the diversity of the matter surrounding us and whose complex forms are examined in the physics of condensed matter. Astronomy and astrophysics penetrate the cosmos, to questions of its development and its composition. These areas of work, which are more related to basic research, are supplemented by highly application-oriented research focuses such as environmental physics - which was 'invented' in Heidelberg -, medical physics and technical informatics. The main areas of work of the faculty are worked on experimentally and theoretically at four university institutes: at the Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, at the Physics Institute and at the Institutes for Theoretical Physics and for Environmental Physics. In the spring of 2005, the Astronomical Computing Institute, the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics and the State Observatory were combined under the roof of the Center for Astronomy Heidelberg, which is one of the most important research centers in the field of astronomy and astrophysics in Germany. There are hardly any groups that only do basic research or only applied research; rather, the areas of work are mutually beneficial. The implementation of the diverse research activities is possible thanks to the significant third-party funding of the working groups. This research landscape is enriched by a number of programs in which working groups from different institutes and faculties work together beyond the borders of the university, e.g. in the collaborative research centers and graduate schools. Numerous collaborations exist on a national and international level: in Heidelberg e.g. with the Max Planck Institutes for Astronomy, for Nuclear Physics and for Medical Research, with the German Cancer Research Center and the European Laboratory for Molecular Biology; in Germany with the Society for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt and with the German Electron Synchrotron in Hamburg; in Europe with the European Nuclear Research Center in Geneva, the Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble and other research institutions around the world. The faculty is one of the largest of its kind in Germany. The good study conditions as well as the variety of work areas, which are reflected in the teaching program and in the offer of examination papers, exert a great attraction on first-year students as well as advanced students. Diploma theses - like doctoral theses - can also be carried out in the non-university research institutes, provided that members of the faculty are active there. Overall, a three-digit number of diploma and doctoral theses are being carried out at all times. The mean length of study in the diploma course is currently around 10 semesters. In terms of the number of graduates, the faculty is at the forefront in Germany, and it is similar for doctorates and post-doctoral degrees. The diverse research opportunities, the cosmopolitan and communicative working style and the pleasant ambience of Heidelberg combine to create extremely pleasant conditions for students and scientists alike for a successful occupation with physics and astronomy.