The GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (formerly Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences), or just GFZ, is the national research center for

Earth Science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

s in Germany. Located in the

Albert Einstein Science Park The Albert Einstein Science Park is located on the Telegrafenberg hill in Potsdam, Germany. The park was named after the physicist Albert Einstein. The best known buildings in the park are the Einstein Tower, an astrophysical observatory that was ...

on the hill of

Telegrafenberg The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an Astrophysics, astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany. The Tower was built by architect Erich Mendelsohn, Erich Mendelsohn in 1924. It was built on th ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

, GFZ is part of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centres. "GFZ" stands for ''GeoForschungsZentrum'' (Geo-research Centre).

History

The GFZ was founded in 1992. It is the latest in a long line of research institutes that have been located on the Telegrafenberg. These have included the Central Institute of for Physics of the Earth (ZIPE), which was an institute of the

Academy of Sciences of the GDR The German Academy of Sciences at Berlin, , in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent research institution of East Germany (German Democratic Republic, GDR). The acad ...

(

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

) that was actively involved in

Geodesy Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...

. The history of the GFZ can be traced back to the ', an institution of the

Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences () was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin Academy" may also refer. In the 18th century, when Frenc ...

. Under the directorship of

Friedrich Robert Helmert Friedrich Robert Helmert (31 July 1843 – 15 June 1917) was a German geodesist and statistician with important contributions to the theory of errors. Career Helmert was born in Freiberg, Kingdom of Saxony. After schooling in Freiberg and ...

from 1886 to 1917, the institute developed into the world's leading center for scientific geodesy. The current GFZ is supported 90% by the German Ministry of Education and Research, and 10% from the Ministry of Science, Research, and Culture from the state of Brandenburg.

Exhibition

Between 24 March and 9 July 2017 GFZ shows a bilingual exhibition (German / English) with the title ''Focus: Earth – Measuring our World'' in the Haus der Brandenburgisch-Preußischen Geschichte in

with many exhibits of the history of geosciences on the

hill."Fokus: Erde" - Ausstellung in Potsdam - 125 Jahre Geowissenschaften
, rbb Fernsehen, rbb wissen, retrieved 18 April 2017 Hodometer.London.um1760.jpg,

Surveyor's wheel A surveyor's wheel, also called a clickwheel, hodometer, waywiser, trundle wheel, measuring wheel or perambulator is a device for measuring distance. Origin The origins of the surveyor's wheel are connected to the origins of the odometer. W ...

, London (around 1760) Universaltheodolit.14Zoll.Pistor&Martins.Berlin.1851.jpg, Historical universal theodolite, Pistor & Martins, Berlin (1851) Basisapparat.Gebrueder.Brunner.Paris.1878.jpg, Basis apparatus for surveying geodetic base lines, Gebrüder Brunner, Paris (1876 to 1878) Erdinduktor.Nr.1.Schulze.Potsdam.1900.jpg, Electromagnetic dip number 1, G. Schulze,

(around 1900) Marine-Chronometer.A.Lange&Soehne.1948.jpg,

Marine chronometer A marine chronometer is a precision timepiece that is carried on a ship and employed in the determination of the ship's position by celestial navigation. It is used to determine longitude by comparing Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), and the time at t ...

, A. Lange & Söhne,

Glashütte Glashütte [] is a town in Saxony, Germany, known as the birthplace of the German watchmaking industry and has a population of about 7,000. Historically, it was first mentioned in a document circa 1445. In January 2008, the former municipality Re ...

(1948) Doktorhuete.Jaehn.Marek.jpg, Square academic caps made with helmets of the

Nationale Volksarmee The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Border Troops). Th ...

Sigmund Jähn Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German Aircraft pilot, pilot, cosmonaut, and ''Generalmajor#Generalmajor in East Germany, Generalmajor'' (equivalent to a Brigadier General in Western armies) in the Nat ...

and Karl-Heinz Marek (1983) Modell.Potsdamer.Kartoffel.jpg, Three-dimensionales model of the so-called "Potsdamer Kartoffel" (''Potato of Potsdam'') with a 15000 times magnification of the surface's level of the

earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

(2017)

References

External links

* {{Coord, 52.3826, N, 13.0644, E, source:wikidata, display=title Research institutes in Germany Research institutes established in 1992 1992 establishments in Germany Organisations based in Potsdam

History

Exhibition

See also

References

External links