The GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, also known as GFZ Helmholtz Centre Potsdam 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 on the

Telegrafenberg The Einstein Tower (German: ''Einsteinturm'') is an astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built by architect Erich Mendelsohn. It was built on the summit of the Potsdam '' Telegraphenberg'' to house ...

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

, in the German federal state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

, and 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, german: Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (DAW), in 1972 renamed the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (''Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW)''), was the most eminent research institution ...

(

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

) that was actively involved in

Geodesy Geodesy ( ) is the Earth science of accurately measuring and understanding Earth's figure (geometric shape and size), orientation in space, and gravity. The field also incorporates studies of how these properties change over time and equivale ...

. 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 (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) 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 ...

. 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 D ...

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. Wh ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

(around 1760) Universaltheodolit.14Zoll.Pistor&Martins.Berlin.1851.jpg, Historical universal theodolite, Pistor & Martins,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

(1851) Basisapparat.Gebrueder.Brunner.Paris.1878.jpg, Basis apparatus for surveying geodetic base lines, Gebrüder Brunner,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

(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), or in the modern ...

, 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 The square academic cap, graduate cap, cap, mortarboard (because of its similarity in appearance to the mortarboard used by brickmasons to hold mortar) or Oxford cap is an item of academic dress consisting of a horizontal square board fixed upo ...

made with helmets of the

Nationale Volksarmee The National People's Army (german: Nationale Volksarmee, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) an ...

Sigmund Jähn Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German cosmonaut and pilot who in 1978 became the first German to fly into space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme. Early life Jähn was born on 13 Fe ...

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 harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

(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