CFEL Symposium: Official Inauguration of the CFEL building
On Monday, 17th of June, 2013, the new CFEL research building was officially inaugurated with a scientific symposium followed by a celebration reception. The special guests representing German government and scientific leaders from University of Hamburg, Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Association and DESY joined the event.
Prof. Dr. Robin Santra (Chair of the CFEL Management Board) opened the symposium with a short greeting in the CFEL seminar rooms.
The CFEL Symposium had six speakers representing the scientific community and addressed the significance of CFEL's collaboration and research with the following topics :
Coherent X-ray science: A personal perspective
Keith A. Nugent, La Trobe University, Australia.
Ultrafast nanoplasmonics: Toward coherent control at the space-time limit
Tamar Seideman, Northwestern University, U.S.A..
Experience with the LCLS and plans for a next generation light source
Paul Emma, Center for Beam Physics, LBNL, U.S.A.
Attosecond science and technology
Paul B. Corkum, University of Ottawa, Canada.
Turning insulators into metals!
Stuart S. P. Parkin, IBM, U.S.A..
What's the correct force on the nuclei: A fresh look at potential energy surfaces, Berry phases, and surface hopping
Eberhard K. U. Gross, MPI of Microstructure Physics, Germany.
Prof. Dr. Wilfried Wurth (CFEL Management Board) shortly welcomed the audience and moderated the inauguration.
Followed by Dr. Dorothee Stapelfeldt, Second Mayor and State Minister of Science and Research, greeting the audience and underlining that Hamburg will be more attractive for many scientists from all over the world with the new CFEL research complex.
The ceremony went on with the address of Dr. Georg Schütte, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
He focused on the importance of CFEL as an excellent research infrastructure for international success in a highly competitive field.
Afterwards, Prof. Dr. Dieter Lenzen, President of the University of Hamburg, thanked all those who contributed to the project for their strong commitment. He praised the importance of CFEL in stregthening the physics in Hamburg which lead to the funding of the excellence cluster CUI (Centre for Ultrafast Imaging).
Prof. Dr. Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors, expressed his pleasure to have CFEL with its broad variety of research fields on the Bahrenfeld campus. He valued the successful cooperations between DESY researchers and CFEL scientists from the other partner organizations UHH and MPG.
Prof. Dr. Martin Stratmann, Vice President of the Max Planck Society, addressed the audience and pointed out the great scientific results that have been achieved within CFEL and have allowed to successfully establish the new Max Planck Institue for the Structure and Dynamic of Matter here in Hamburg.
The ceremony of the official inauguration of the CFEL building was followed by the speech of Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mlynek, President of the Helmholtz Association. He praised CFEL for its interdisciplinary and internationally oriented research cooperation bringing together top scientists and young researchers from all over the world to Hamburg.
The last speaker of the day, Prof. Dr. Robin Santra, Chair of the CFEL Management Board, presented a general overview of research groups in CFEL and their research subjects.
The official inauguration of the CFEL building was then celebrated with a reception in the CFEL hall with over 400 guests attending.
Links to press releases and information covering the official inauguration of the CFEL building:
