Physikalisches Institut of University of Bonn

The Physikalisches Institut was built from 1911 to 1913. Heinrich Kayser, Heinrich Konen, Christian Füchtbauer and Wolfgang Paul, among others, taught here. The Physics Institute conducts research in a wide variety of fields and is also a center for teaching. Students are taught the basics of physics and can expand and deepen their knowledge in further courses of study.

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News

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Students from Belgium, Canada, Mexico, Türkiye and the USA win the 12th edition of Beamline for Schools⁴

Beamline for Schools (BL4S) is a physics competition that was initiated by CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, and is open to secondary school pupils from all around the world. Participants are invited to submit a proposal for a physics experiment to be undertaken at the beamline of a particle accelerator, either at CERN or at one of the partner institutes: DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany) and ELSA (Elektronen-Stretcher-Anlage of the University of Bonn, Germany). In 2025, a record number of five winning teams have been chosen, based on both the scientific merit of their proposals and the communication merit of their submission video.

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Three clusters of excellence for Physics and Astronomy in Bonn⁵

The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Bonn will be represented in three Clusters of Excellence in the future - an impressive success that underlines the breadth and international visibility of its research. The University of Bonn was successful with a total of eight approved clusters in the nationwide Excellence Strategy and is therefore once again one of the absolute leaders in the German science system.

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Innovative New Detector to Hunt for Neutrinos⁶

Technology is being pushed to its very limits. The upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN slated for the next few years will increase data transfer rates beyond what the current neutrino detector for the FASER experiment can cope with, requiring it to be replaced by a new kind of more powerful detector. This is a task that physicist Professor Matthias Schott from the University of Bonn will be tackling with the help of €1 million in Reinhart Koselleck funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG).

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Carnival party of the Physics Institutes⁷

On Weiberfastnacht, after a 10-year break, the Physics Institutes once again held a carnival party in the foyer of the Wolfgang-Paul-Hörsaal.

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Events

Wednesday Jul 16, 2025

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Amplitudes Seminar: CANCELLED [FOR Virtual Colloquium]⁹

Nussallee 12, 53115 Bonn

11:00 AM - 01:00 PM

"CANCELLED [FOR Virtual Colloquium]" - Für weitere Angaben folgen Sie dem Link in der Kategorie "Weitere Informationen". For further details, follow the link ...

Thursday Jul 17, 2025

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Particle Physics Seminar: The hunt for high frequency gravitat...¹⁰

FTD

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

"The hunt for high frequency gravitational waves — GravNet" - Für weitere Angaben folgen Sie dem Link in der Kategorie "Weitere Informationen". For further ...

Thursday Jul 24, 2025

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Particle Physics Seminar: LHCb analysis¹¹

Nussallee 12, 53115 Bonn

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

"LHCb analysis" - Für weitere Angaben folgen Sie dem Link in der Kategorie "Weitere Informationen". For further details, follow the link in the "Additional ...

Wednesday Aug 27, 2025

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Master Colloquium: Development of an FPGA-based DAQ system and...¹²

ROT

02:00 PM - 03:20 PM

"Master Colloquium: Development of an FPGA-based DAQ system and rail analysis for the upcoming OBELIX sensor" - Für weitere Angaben folgen Sie dem Link in der ...

Event Calendar ¹³

About us

An international team of scientists and students is involved in research and teaching at the Physikalisches Institut. Technical and administrative staff create the conditions for successful operation in all areas of work.

Eine Wissenschaftlerin und ein Wissenschaftler arbeiten hinter einer Glasfassade und mischen Chemikalien mit Großgeräten.

Institute

Click on the link below to get an overview of the
facilities of the institute. On the page you will also find the contact persons for different
areas as well as further information.

Facilities and contacts ¹⁴

Members

More than 250 people work together at the Physikalisches Institut. Find out who we are!

List of members ¹

Policies for Protection Against Sexualized Discrimination and Violence

Sexualized discrimination and violence are not tolerated at the Physikalisches Institut. A respectful and trusting as well as non-discriminatory cooperation of all members, relatives and guests is a matter of course for the University of Bonn.

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Research

At the Physics Institute, research is conducted in a wide variety of fields. Various research facilities are available for this purpose, including the university's own ELSA¹⁵ accelerator facility. The broad-based research entails a large number of offers for students.

Research Focus

At the Physics Institute, research is conducted in the main areas of particle physics, condensed matter and photonics, and accelerator physics

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Research Groups

The Physics Institute has many different research groups working in the various focus areas.

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Research Facilities

The Physics Institute houses a variety of facilities from a wide range of research areas.

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The Department of Physics and Astronomy

The Department of Physics and Astronomy consists of the Physikalisches Institut, the Helmholtz Institute for Radiation and Nuclear Physics¹⁹, the Institute for Applied Physics²⁰ and the Argelander Institute for Astronomy²¹. The physicists of these four institutions jointly design and conduct a broad program of offerings for students, researchers, as well as for young people and the general public.

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About studying physics

In the various courses of study, the fundamentals of experimental and theoretical physics are taught and comprehensively deepened.

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Outreach activities

Various events in the field of public relations offer a broad audience an insight into the world of physics.

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Wolfgang-Paul-Lecture

Wolfgang Paul was professor of physics at Physikalisches Institut of University of Bonn from 1952 to 1993. In remembrance of Wolfgang Paul highly distinguished physicists are regularly invited to give the Wolfgang Paul Lecture at the institute. This lecture series is made possible by the Wolfgang Paul foundation which was generously supported by himself with half of his Nobel Prize money.