DCF News

Congratulations! Jérémy Vachier defended successfully his PhD thesis with the talk “Nonequlibrium Statistical Mechanics – Collective Behavior of Active Particles“. After his research work in Marco Mazza’s group he will continue his scientific career as a PostDoc at Nordita in Stockholm, Sweden.

A Max Planck Forum was held on January 23, 2020 at the representation of the State of Lower Saxony in Berlin Mitte. The topic was "Auto adé? Digital solutions for tomorrow's public transport". It was hosted by the Max Planck Society in cooperation with the Representation of the State of Lower Saxony to the Federal Government. Director Stephan Herminghaus presented the EcoBus before the podium engaged in a lively discussion on the mobility of the future. Our guests came from federal and state ministries and from associations.

Outstanding dissertation in materials sciences - The physicist Dr. Christian Titus Kreis receives the Peter Haasen Prize for his work in the group of Oliver Bäumchen and his dissertation at the University of Göttingen. The prize is awarded for outstanding doctoral theses in the broader field of materials sciences at the University of Göttingen and is endowed with 5,000 euros.

After a 4-week journey through South India Stephan Herminghaus is back in Göttingen. The journey began with a scientific symposium in Guwahati lasting several days with speakers from India and Europe, during which the 60th birthday was celebrated ("Hermi-fest"). Afterwards, several research sites were visited, where not only discussions took place, but also experiments were actively supported.

The EcoBus system researched in our department has another application. In Leipzig, a system with minibuses starts, which transport passengers on demand. In comparison to the previous test operations in the Harz Mountains and Bad Gandersheim, the system has been expanded once again so that passengers can easily change to trams, buses or suburban trains. The pilot operation is planned until mid-March 2020.

Knut Heidemann starts today as the new head of the group "Physics of Social Systems" in our department. In his group he will investigate systems with "human components". A website with further details is under construction. more

The EcoBus presented itself at the "Fridays for Future" demonstration in front of the new town hall in Göttingen. Several thousand participants of the demonstration gathered here for the rallies and the subsequent demonstration march through the city center of Göttingen. At a stand, project staff provided information to those interested.

At a team event in Nörten-Hardenberg, MPIDS employees got to know each other better. Teamwork was required when setting up and painting cajons, and the talents of the employees were bundled in the concluding joint playing of music.

Scientists of our department at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen used the EcoBus system to research flexible mobility. In pilot phases in the Bad Gandersheim and Kalefeld areas and around Goslar, Clausthal-Zellerfeld and Osterode in the Harz mountains, up to 10 buses were operated. Together with the public transport authorities, the Regionalverband Braunschweig area and the Zweckverband Verkehrsverbund in the South of Lower Saxony, we tested the results of our basic research in the two pilot trials in order to improve the theoretical predictions and test them in practice.

Fun and games were again on the agenda of this year's summer festival. Relay races, volleyball tournaments, table tennis and darts formed the sporting framing programme. Entertainment through magic, a flea market as well as music and dance brought the employees of the Max Planck Campus together as a team.