natu-nov-15-07-p454-p001 8/11/07 7:33 Page 2
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Resear ch in Germany
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i
ght of:
Max Planc
by Dr. Nicole Hilbrandt
(German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD)
k Institute of Radio Astronom
TLIGHT ON GERMANY
Two new German Nobel Prizes have put research right back on
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the map in Germany. But Peter Grünberg’s basic research on
the phenomena of giant magnetoresistance and Gerhard Ertl’s
basic research in surface chemistry are not the only
achievements German research has to boast about – in the last y
20 years, German science has harvested no less than 18 Nobel
Prizes. This puts Germany in third place behind the USA and
Great Britain. Altogether, 28 Germans have been awarded the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 24 in Physics and 15 in Medicine or
Physiology.
This is no coincidence. After all, there is a long tradition of
outstanding research in Germany, starting with Johannes
Gutenberg’s printing press, via Carl Friedrich Benz’
automobile and Einstein’s theory of relativity, right up to
Karlheinz Brandenb urg’s MP3 format. And German
researchers were also responsible for the invention of the refrigerator, neon lighting, trams, glide rs as well
as huge-capacity hard discs. These researchers all found the right environment for their work in Ger many.
From the outside, the German research landscape may appear impenetrable, but when you look more
closely it isn’t at all. Rather, it is an intriguing landscape with multifaceted regions. Germany ha s a strong
and highly differentiated science system. This system is divided into three: besides more than 100 r esearch
universities, research is carried out by four high-performance science organisations (Fraunhofer Soc iety,
Max Planck Society, Helmholtz Association, Leibniz Association), other state and private research
establishments, as well as approximately 260 specialised colleges and universities of applied scienc e.
Altogether, there are roughly 750 state financed research establishments in Germany, not to mention the
research and development taking place in industry. Germany is the third largest “researchers’ countr y” in
the world – a total of more than 270,000
scientists work here.
Traditionally, German research has
been particularly strong in the fields of
mechanical engineering, chemistry,
medicine, physics and mathematics.
And certain humanities disciplines also
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play a leading role. Both in biomedicine
y
r
i
ght of:
and medical technology as well as in
Max-Planc
the fields of environmental, automotive
and engineering science German
7
k-Institut für Plasmaph
researchers and research institutes are
right at the forefront worldwide. But
that’s not all: in future-oriented fields
v
ember 200
such as optical technology,
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15 No microsystems technology, neuroscience,
ysik
biotechnology and process technology
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TURE
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