Researching new vaccines quickly and powerfully for the benefit of humanity — the COVID-19 pandemic rendered clear the need for effective and rapid vaccine development processes. Scientists from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig investigated an innovative method that has the potential to increase significantly the effectiveness of future vaccine development.
The science manager and biochemist Dr. Katharina Stummeyer has taken up the position of the Administrative Managing Director of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung GmbH and the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research in Europe GmbH (FAIR GmbH) on 1 June 2024. She previously has been head of the project management agency of the Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH. Dr. Katharina Stummeyer succeeds Dr. Ulrich Breuer, who took over the position of chancellor…
The GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung mourns the loss of its former Scientific Director Prof. Dr. Hans Joachim Specht, who passed away in Heidelberg on May 20, 2024 at the age of 87.
Under the scientific leadership of Prof. Specht, from 1992 to 1999, a rich scientific harvest was obtained at the previously commissioned GSI accelerator facilities UNILAC/SIS/ESR, with numerous discoveries and new technological developments.
Professor Specht also played an eminent role in the…
A new nucleosynthesis process denoted the νr-process has been suggested by scientists from GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Technische Universität Darmstadt, and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. It operates when neutron-rich material is exposed to a high flux of neutrinos. The theoretical proposal, which was recently published in “Physical Review Letters”, may be the solution to a long-standing issue related to the production of a group of rare isotopes present in the…
The nationwide day of action Girls'Day in 2024 was once again very well received at GSI/FAIR. This time, 68 girls between the ages of eleven and 17 took part in the event and learned about the accelerator facilities and experiments, about research and infrastructure, and especially about the career opportunities at GSI and FAIR. The girls took advantage of Girls'Day to gain insight into the wide range of activities at an international research institution, especially in professions in which…
It could be a new, promising combination of two therapeutic approaches and a key to better combating advanced-stage cancer. Two strong partners have joined forces to explore this possibility: The biopharmaceutical and translational research institute TRON in Mainz with its highly specialized oncology research and the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt with its worldwide unique accelerator facilities and the cancer therapy with ion beams developed here. Researchers from…
Thomas Stöhlker, head of the research division for Atomic, Quantum and Fundamental Physics at GSI/FAIR, Director of the Helmholtz Institute Jena and Professor at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, receives an ERC Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). His project HITHOR has been awarded the European Union's research funding prize for established scientists. The prestigious award enables intensive research with highly-charged 229-thorium ions to pave the way for the…
The first patients were treated with heavy ions 25 years ago – whereas therapy was long limited to the head and pelvis, today tumors in the upper body, for example in the lungs, liver and pancreas, can also be treated, even though they are constantly in motion due to breathing. Some methods are already in clinical routine, other developments from the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung offer new hopes and opportunities for cancer treatment.
Since the turn of the century, six new chemical elements have been discovered and subsequently added to the periodic table of elements, the very icon of chemistry. These new elements have high atomic numbers up to 118 and are significantly heavier than uranium, the element with the highest atomic number (92) found in larger quantities on Earth. This raises questions such as how many more of these superheavy species are waiting to be discovered, where – if at all – is a fundamental limit in the…
