Visit to the Science City Campus Hamburg Bahrenfeld

16 April 2025

Photo: DESY, Marta Mayer

The group from the Schwartz/Reisman Science Education Center from Israel together with their hosts at DESY.

Photo: UHH/CUI

The Israeli pupils were impressed by the Cluster of Excellence's “Arts & Science” art exhibition.

Photo: UHH/Light&Schools

In the physics school laboratory at the University of Hamburg, the pupils were able to get to know the “Michelson-Interferometer” experiment.

A group of 60 Israeli students visited the research campus over the past two weeks to gain an insight into the research being carried out by the campus partners.

Once again, teachers and selected students from the 12th grade and the Israeli Schwartz/Reisman Science Education Center, an institution under the umbrella of the renowned Weizmann Institute of Science, came to Hamburg for a direct exchange with science. The visit program, initiated by DESY, included four days at DESY, its research facilities and discussions with DESY scientists and other campus partners such as the European XFEL in Schenefeld, CSSB or the University of Hamburg. The Cluster of Excellence “CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter” was able to support the exchange for the second time and gave the school groups an overview of the research at the Cluster of Excellence and in particular an insight into the “Arts & Science” project, an exhibition with images from the micro-world of basic scientific research, which takes an aesthetic look at scientific research and thus offers an initial, low-threshold introduction to research. The science enthusiasts were impressed by the colorful yet informative pictures and the modern research building HARBOR (Hamburg Advanced Research Centre for Bioorganic Chemistry) in which the exhibition was shown.  In the puzzle challenge in the foyer, two competing groups were able to puzzle together a picture belonging to the exhibition.

 Research in the school laboratory

In the physics school laboratory “Light & Schools” at the University of Hamburg, the pupils were able to use the “Michelson Interferometer” experiment to learn how light waves interfere and thus how precise measurements of wavelengths or optical changes can be carried out. Dr. Koen Sponselee guided the group and their teachers through the facilities of the school laboratory.  In addition to the scientific program, the group also discovered Hamburg, its port, the old Elbe tunnel and other sights. “I heard seagulls for the first time in my life,” said one of the pupils happily. Ronen Mir, Director of the Schwartz/Reisman Science and Education Center, who himself worked as a scientist in Hamburg and helped initiate the exchange, was delighted with the wide range of activities on offer for the pupils.