2012

All "From the department" news from 2012.

New professor and head of section at the GFZ
Professor Dr. Dirk Wagner has been appointed to a joint professorship of geobiology and geomicrobiology at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences by the University of Potsdam and the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. As the new head of section 4.5 Geomicrobiology at the GFZ, Prof. Wagner's work will concentrate on studies of microbial life in deep sediments (Deep Biosphere) and its role in the global carbon cycle.

Sumatra Earthquake: Tremendous Progress in the Warning Chain
On 11 April 2012 at 8.38 AM UTZ a strong earthquake with a magnitude of 8.6 Mw occurred about 500 km west of the Indonesian province of Aceh in northern Sumatra, which resulted in a tsunami warning in Indonesia and the Indian Ocean. It was followed by a very strong aftershock with a magnitude of 8.0 Mw about 2 hours later.

Expert workshop on research data infrastructures
Change in the use of research data - Scientists discuss at the GFZ
The cost of obtaining data in a variety of scientific disciplines ranges in the order of several billion euros in Germany alone. On 17 April 75 scientists of various disciplines and research institutions will be discussing how to capture, store and prepare the diversity of these data systematically for further use in the workshop "Elements of a comprehensive research data infrastructure: One for all?" at the GFZ.

Virtual Institute DESERVE
only available in German.

Gold Award for German Pavillon
At the closure ceremony of the world exhibition "Expo 2012" the German pavillon got the „Gold Award“ for the best interpretation of the lead theme "The Living Ocean and the Coast". GFZ was present with a GITEWS exhibit.

Inauguration of A69/70
On August 21, the new buildings A69/70 of the GFZ were inaugurated by the Minister for Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg, Prof. Dr. Sabine Kunst and GFZ's Scientific Executive Director, Prof. Dr. Reinhard Hüttl, handing over a the key to Dr. Jörn Lauterjung, head of the Geoengineering Centres of GFZ who now moved their workplaces into their new home.

25 years ago: Drilling Begins at KTB
With a celebration at the GeoCentre in Windischeschenbach the Continental Deep Drilling Program of the Federal Republic of Germany (KTB) was started 25 years ago, in September 1987. The drilling operation for the 4003-meter-deep pilot hole was the visible start for the largest-ever single geoscience project in Germany.

Prof. Wilhelm Heinrich elected President of the European Mineralogical Union (EMU)
Wilhelm Heinrich will serve as president of the European Mineralogical Union during the 2012 - 2016 term. He was elected by EMU's Council at the 1st European Mineralogical Conference, Frankfurt, September 2-6. The European Mineralogical Union is the umbrella organization of the 26 National Mineralogical Societies, representing the vast majority of European mineralogists.

1st EMC: http://emc2012.uni-frankfurt.de/

GRACE Science Team Meeting 2012, DFG SPP 1257 Final Colloquium and Sea Level Workshop, 17.-20.September, 2012
On 17-19 September 2012, the joint GRACE Science Team Meeting and the Final Colloquium of the DFG Special Priority Program (SPP) “Mass Transport and Mass Distribution in System Earth” will take place at the German Research Centre for Geosciences. The three days meeting will be completed by a Sea Level Workshop, jointly organized by the National Academy Leopoldina and the SPP.

Helmholtz International Fellow Award awarded for the first time
On 24 September in Jerusalem, the president of the Helmholtz Association, Professor Jürgen Mlynek, handed the Helmholtz Fellow Award to Professor Amos Agnon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prof. Agnon was nominated for the Fellow Award by the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ, represented by Professor Michael Weber.

Inauguration of the first permanent seismological station in Palestine
On 23 October 2012, the first permanent geophysical multi-parameter station of the DESERVE program in Palestine was inaugurated in the presence of the Prime Minister of Palestine, Dr. Salam Fayyad. The GFZ was represented by Professor Michael Weber, director of the department "Physics of the Earth" and Oliver Bens, Head of the Staff Scientific Executive Board of the GFZ.

GFZ’s position to the process in L’Aquila
The charge with manslaughter against six scientists and a government administrator in L’Aquila in connection with the earthquake of 06 April 2009 also concerns us, as scientists of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. This verdict is alarming as it demonstrates that scientists are blamed for uncertainties in research and their public perception.

GEO-FUTURE: A Symposium on Earth System Science in South Africa
The GFZ is host institute for the German-South African Year of Science Symposium GEO-FUTURE, which celebrates the Inkaba yeAfrica flagship programme of collaborative research and education in Earth System Science (www.inkaba.org).

Prof. Dr. Monika Koch-Müller is a fellow of the "Mineralogical Society of America"
Prof. Dr. Monika Koch-Müller (Department 3, Section 3.3: Chemistry and Physics of Earth Materials) has been selected as a fellow of the "Mineralogical Society of America". The MSA selects members to a fellowship who have contributed significantly to the advancement of mineralogy, crystallography, geochemistry, petrology, or allied sciences and whose scientific contribution utilized mineralogical studies or data. Already in April 2012, Prof. Koch-Müller was voted into the review board of mineralogy, geochemistry and crystallography of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Helmholtz-Russia Joint Research Groups
In the Helmholtz field office in the Russian Federation in Moscow on 22.11.2012, the final round of the fifth call for bids of the support program "Helmholtz-Russia Joint Research Groups" (HRJRG) was held. The project "Structural properties of carbonate-silicate melts and their effect on fractionation processes in the deep Earth investigated by synchrotron radiation, and ion probe spectroscopic methods" submitted by GFZ scientist Dr. Max Wilke is one of the projects that were selected.