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Giants of German research

Researchers can write fascinating success stories when they have access to the best equipment.

19.03.2015
© picture-alliance/dpa/NASA - Alexander Gerst in space

Above the clouds. Recently, spectacular images have sprung to mind whenever anyone mentions the German Aerospace Center (DLR). On 12 November 2014, for example, the Philae lander touched down on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 510 million kilometres from Earth and amazed not only the space community, but the whole world. People had just taken the charming little probe to heart when Philae’s battery failed after 56 hours of breathtaking signals. Since then experts at the DLR Lander Control Center have been waiting for signs of life from the small apparatus on the distant comet. There is still hope, however, and the first opportunity for renewed contact could arise at the end of March 2015. The lander needs additional energy, which can only be generated as Churyumov-Gerasimenko moves closer to the sun. By contrast, German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst remained in constant communication with Earth as he sped through space in 2014. His extraterrestrial social media messages inspired people even more than his spectacular walk outside the International Space Station (photograph). During his nearly six-month stay on board the station, Astro-Alex tweeted with dozens of school classes, congratulated the German national football team on their World Cup victory and posted countless photographs on Facebook as part of his Blue Dot mission. A third image illustrates a less spectacular, but otherwise equally ambitious scientific project: the DLR operates the unique new HALO research aircraft that has been researching the formation, development and properties of tropical clouds over the rainforests of Brazil.

The world of supercomputing. Whether researchers are focusing on global climate, brain research or the energy supply of the future, supercomputer simulations are now an essential element in understanding complex processes. The more realistic simulations become, the greater the data-processing power involved. One of the supercomputers that is enabling research to enter new territory is JUQUEEN. With 458,752 processing cores and a top performance of 5.9 petaFLOPS, an amazing 5.9 quadrillion calculations per second, in 2014 it reached eighth place in the TOP500 global ranking of supercomputers. Forschungs­zentrum Jülich operates JUQUEEN as part of the Helmholtz Association’s supercomputing research programme. In 2013 alone, 15 European projects were able to use the extraordinarily energy-efficient JUQUEEN supercomputer within the framework of the Part­nership for Advanced Computing in Europe. Researchers also need its concentrated processing power for the ambitious work of the Human Brain Project. This billion-euro European Union flagship project aims to bring together all the knowledge about the human brain and model it with the aid of computer software and simulations. Over 80 European research institutions from 23 countries and a number of other international partners are involved in this major project.

The search for elmentary particles. The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, or simply DESY for short, is one of the world’s premier addresses for particle acceleration. Researchers use DESY equipment to explore all facets of the microcosmos – from the interaction of the smallest elementary particles and the behaviour of new nanomaterials to the complex processes that occur between biomolecules. Both the accelerators and their detectors can rightly be described as superlative: experts regard the PETRA III large accelerator as the world’s most brilliant storage ring based X-ray source, while the FLASH free-electron laser delivers ultrashort flashes of “soft” X-ray light that enables unique experiments. Researchers at the DESY campus are now already excitedly looking forward to 2017, when the European XFEL X-ray laser will begin operating and create the most intense X-ray flashes ever produced. Every year, over 3,000 visiting researchers from more than 40 nations work at the two DESY sites in Hamburg and Zeuthen near Berlin. They highly appreciate the almost infinite opportunities offered by these large high-tech facilities. DESY is part of the Helmholtz Association.

Elementary basic research. Anyone who wants to expand the horizons of knowledge in heavy ion research will find it practically impossible to pass by the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research in Darmstadt. The accelerator facility that is used by roughly 1,250 international scientists a year is con­sidered absolutely unique. GSI research teams attempt to create previously unknown chemical elements in the laboratory. So far they have succeeded in doing this in their experiments six times; they are responsible for discovering all the elements with atomic weights from 107 to 112. Last year, they caused yet another sensation: according to the highly influential American Physical Society, the discovery of chemical element 117 in experiments at GSI was one of the ten most exciting research successes of 2014 in physics. Scientists in Darmstadt are expectantly looking to the future. After its completion in 2018, the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), one of the largest projects in physical basic research worldwide, will offer some 3,000 researchers from 50 countries the opportunity to conduct research into the basic building blocks of matter and the development of the universe. FAIR is being funded by Germany and nine other partner countries.

Floating high-tech laboratories. Not only the smallest elementary particles continue to hold mysteries. The sea still contains an infinite number of secrets. It was Elisabeth Mann Borgese, the grand dame of marine biology, who postulated the idea that the surface of the moon has been more thoroughly investigated than the largest habitat on our planet. The German research ships Polarstern, Meteor, Sonne, Maria S. Merian, Poseidon, Alkor and Heincke have been specially designed for marine research and offer floating laboratories for biologists, geologists, geophysicists, glaciologists, geochemists, oceanographers and meteorologists. The latest proud addition to the fleet is the research ship Sonne. Launched in July 2014 by Federal Chancellor Merkel, the 116-metre-long vessel aims to throw light on the depths of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and study the protection of marine ecosystems and the use of marine resources. The Dominican Republic was the destination of the first major voyage of the world’s most modern research ship. In addition to research on the Puerto Rico Trench and the deep-sea organisms that live in it, the 40 or so researchers on board were also kept busy surveying large parts of the Atlantic seafloor.

Investigations in the eternal ice. Accessibility is not its strong point. Anyone who spontaneously decides to get in touch will probably find it difficult. Visits are impossible and so are telephone calls. Of course, you can contact the nine members of the overwintering team at 70°40´S, 008°16´W by radio, but how many people have radio equipment at home. Apparently, if you ignore the icy cold and the stormy darkness of the nine-month Antarctic winter, you can live rather cosily at Neumayer-Station III, the German Antarctic research facility on the Ekström Ice Shelf. It has everything you need: in-house snow-melting equipment, great snow vehicles and even its own icebreaker, Polarstern, which makes regular appearances nearby. It is only 16 kilometres to the edge of the ice shelf, from which supplies have to be brought every so often. When the working day is over, you can go out whale watching – however, only in good weather, which is rare – or read. The library stocks three copies of Sten Nadolny’s bestseller: The Discovery of Slowness. Since the early 1980s polar researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have worked here in international interdisciplinary teams that have made an important contribution to climate research. They maintain several observatories to measure radiation and climate – and prove with each mission to the Arctic or Antarctic that research is above all a matter of passion and commitment. Otherwise no one would come here. ▪