Dear colleagues,

The foundation stone for the DESYUM Visitor Centre, DESY's new flagship landmark, was laid on the campus on the last day of May. We were there and spoke with the people in the DESY construction helmets. In this newsletter, Jörg Niderehe and Christian Mrotzek tell us how the new building will provide exciting and sustainable impulses for our research centre.

The DESY Science Day, which will be called DESY Day from this year onwards, is also being redesigned. First details can be found in this newsletter. Some advance information: DESY Day will take place on 2 November.

On top of all that, the German Federal Minister of Health, Karl Lauterbach, paid a high visit to the campus, there was great media interest in the ALPS research project and in our sustainability successes, there were interesting events – and a special award for our Chairman of the Directorate.

These topics and more in our summer newsletter. Enjoy the read!

Your DESY inform-team

LAYING THE FOUNDATION STONE FOR DESYUM: “I LOVE CONSTRUCTION SITES – ESPECIALLY AT DESY”

Upbeat speeches and industrious bricklaying: If the finished DESYUM Visitor Centre from 2025 onwards displays the kind of energy that dominated the foundation stone-laying ceremony at the end of May, then this event was a good omen. “I love construction sites, particularly at DESY,” said Senator for Science, Research and Equality Katharina Fegebank during the ceremony. “They represent progress. And DESY is one of the most exciting and fascinating places in Germany.” DESY Director Helmut Dosch promised to make research on the campus more accessible to everyone with the exhibition in the DESYUM. “This is an important social responsibility. We need the public to trust science.” And: “We are exploring an invisible world with our research. The future lies in this invisible nanoworld.” But that also arouses fear, stirs up prejudices. "We will address these in the new visitor centre.” Karen Ong from the DESY student laboratory added: “In the future, we will take visitors on an interactive research journey and make it possible to experience what is otherwise hidden.” The time capsule for the laying of the foundation stone was stuffed to the brim with, among other things, a Ukrainian flag, an aerial view of the future Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld and the DESY sustainability report. The capsule was then lowered into the excavation pit by crane.

DESYUM: “THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A PLACE LIKE THIS IN THE HISTORY OF DESY”

Enthusiasm at the edge of the excavation pit: The DESYUM, a multifunctional building with multifunctional spaces, is currently being built directly at the roundabout behind the main entrance. Jörg Niderehe and Christian Mrotzek are happy that heavy equipment is finally in operation. The two DESY employees have been working on the concept for the DESYUM for years. Niderehe is an architect in DESY's construction department, Mrotzek is the coordinator of the new visitor centre in the PR department. “With the start of construction, things finally fell into place,” says Jörg Niderehe. “It is simply the best thing to witness something coming into being that you have only seen in theory on the computer before.” Christian Mrotzek nods. “It's a really nice project. I'm glad it's finally progressing from planning to realisation.” The two know what they are talking about. That's why we talked to them. And after reading this interview, you might see the picture on the building sign at the edge of the excavation pit in a completely different light – and beam yourself mentally to the year 2025.

DESYUM FACTS AND FIGURES

• 3250 square metres of floor space on 6 floors (including the basement)


• 90 per cent of the building is financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), with Hamburg providing 10 per cent.


• Scheduled completion: end of 2024, followed by a commissioning phase of two to three months.


• The DESYUM is to be handed over to the users in the second quarter of 2025.


• The opening of the exhibition is planned for April/May 2025.

DESYUM DURING CONSTRUCTION

Sneak preview: All DESY people can currently learn more about the new DESYUM in a small exhibition in the foyer of Building 1.

For those who would like to have even more information, three short guided tours of the construction site are currently being planned for the different construction phases: at the end of September and in mid-December on a Thursday at around 5.30 pm. The exact dates and further details will be announced later.

FEDERAL MINISTER OF HEALTH KARL LAUTERBACH AT DESY

If you were out and about on campus last Friday, you may have seen him whizzing past: Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach visited the campus in Hamburg at the invitation of DESY. The focus was on health research in Covid times and in the future, which Lauterbach found out about at DESY's research facilities like the PETRA III experimental hall. Read more about the visit

HONORARY DOCTORATE FOR HELMUT DOSCH

DESY Director Helmut Dosch is now also an honorary doctor of TU Dortmund University. During an anniversary celebration of the Physics Faculty, the Chairman of our Directorate was honoured for his extraordinary achievements in science and science management; especially in the development and advancement of new analytical methods using synchrotron radiation. During the ceremony – the laudatory speech was given by Metin Tolan, President of the University of Göttingen – Helmut Dosch also thanked DESY for the good cooperation between researchers at TU Dortmund and DESY. Congratulations!

“DESY SCIENCE DAY” BECOMES “DESY DAY”

DESY Science Day 2023 will go by a new (but familiar) name and thus set new accents: “We are showing that this day is for all DESY people: from the administration to the workshops, from technology to science,” says DESY Director Helmut Dosch. “But of course, everything revolves around our fantastic research, which – precisely without everyone's commitment and enthusiasm – would not be possible in this way.”

The planning is still in the early stages, but it will be a mixture of the tried and tested and new elements. The focus is on the award part, where outstanding achievements and personal commitment will be recognised and honoured. A new feature: “This year, for the first time, we will also present the International Fellowship Award,” says Ismar Kiseljakovic, personal advisor to Helmut Dosch and coordinator of award management at DESY. And there is another innovation: “In 2023, the DESY Award for Exceptional Achievements will be given in three categories: Engineering and Technology, Social Commitment and Outreach as well as Administration, Organisation and Management.” He adds that “DESY employees have submitted many interesting nominations.”

You can still apply for the Innovation Award until 15 August. Information and nomination criteria can be found here.

The DESY Day will be moderated by Kerstin Straub with reinforcement from DESY's science ranks: “We have a lot planned this year. That's why I'm looking forward to the support of Christian Schwanenberger as well as Anna Nelles and Stefan Ohm from Zeuthen, who – outside of research – excelled with their moderating talent in the 'AP Morning Show'.”

Please make a note of the date now: DESY Day will take place live in the DESY auditorium on 2 November and will be broadcast online simultaneously. We would like to take this opportunity to inform our colleagues in Zeuthen who may be on holiday on 2 November (Brandenburg will be on holiday): To make sure no one misses out, we will also record the event for the DESY YouTube channel.

HELMHOLTZ SUSTAINABILITY SUMMIT

Save the date: on 10–15 October, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) will hold the KIT Science Week. Embedded in the programme: the Helmholtz Sustainability Summit. While the Science Week will offer impressions of the diverse research in sustainability and climate protections, the summit will place the sustainability plans of our research infrastructures front and centre. The motto of the summit: “Shaping sustainability through dialogue” – open science will be discussed alongside diversity and communication of sustainability. Those who want to contribute to the summit or drop in to listen: The Sustainability Summit will be on 10–11 October in Karlsruhe. More info on the summit website.

BAHRENFELD NEIGHBOURHOOD FÊTE

DESY is there when the Bahrenfeld neighbourhood celebrates – with a joint stand with Universität Hamburg. The community can experience their scientific neighbours up close. At the stand, there will be some simple hands-on experiments as well as information about what's happening on the research campus. Visitors can also find out more about DESY's future project PETRA IV. The big summer festival “Bahrenfeld celebrates” will take place on 8 July from 2 p.m. on the large lawn in the Volkspark. We look forward to seeing everyone who stops by.

LET THERE BE LIGHT? – ALPS EXPERIMENT STARTS DATA TAKING

It may be small as particle physics experiments go, but its potential is huge (mirrored by the media interest including articles in DIE ZEIT): The light-shining-through-the-wall experiment ALPS II (Any Light Particle Search) started data taking at the end of May. Its goal is to find incredibly light particles, so-called axions, which could also be the constituents of dark matter.

How does this work? The 250-metre-long experiment, which is set up in the HERA tunnel around the North Hall, stores intense light in a strong magnetic field. The researchers hope that individual photons could transform into the super-light axion particles and back again in another magnetic field, which is separated from the first part by a light-tight wall. So if you measure light here, it must have been a particle coming through the wall in between. However: “The probability of a photon changing into an axion and back again is very small, despite all our technical tricks - comparable to rolling 33 dice at the same time and getting the same result,” says Axel Lindner, spokesman for the ALPS collaboration.

Whether there is light or not – we will report on it. In the meantime, we recommend you watch the drone video on the ALPS experiment.

NEW DESY SPIN-OFF

DESY's latest spin-off is called Ximul.it and is located in the Start-up Labs Bahrenfeld on the DESY campus. The company is the “baby” of the two DESY researchers Sergei Fridman (centre) and Ofir Shefer Shalev (right) as well as Oliver Hauck (left), a specialist in circuit design. The three have set themselves the goal of improving the circuit simulation of new chip designs with their start-up. Ximul.it was advised by the DESY Start-up Office.

NEW INNOVATION PLATFORM

Hi-Acts (Helmholtz Innovation Platform for Accelerator-based Technologies) is what the new Helmholtz Innovation Platform is called. DESY was the main proposal partner and has been responsible for the platform management since the beginning of the year. In addition, two of the Technology Labs of the platform are also located at DESY.

Other partners are HZDR, HZB, GSI and Hereon. Hi-Acts brings together the unique knowledge of these centres on accelerators. First industrial companies are also already involved in Hi-Acts. One of the objectives is to bring accelerator-based technologies into applications more quickly.

Heads up! The Call for Proposals for the Hi-Acts Use Case Initiative is due in autumn 2023. It is open to all DESY researchers. For questions and information about the platform and the call: info@hi-acts.de

Finally, the Hi-Acts team is looking for support for the leadership of the Technology Lab “Physics-informed AI”.

NEW DESY EVENTS on Artificial Intelligence

Everyone is talking about it, many have an opinion about it and only a few have proper insight into it: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the most hotly debated topic of our time.

What dangers does AI pose, what opportunities does it offer? Can we trust it? And what are AI decisions based on? These are just some of the essential questions that DESY's AI Perspectives team is now (also) publicly addressing. The working group was launched in 2020 by DESY's Relation Management team, the DIB, Helmholtz Imaging and the artist Jari Niesner with one big goal: “We want to make AI understandable,” says head of Relation Management Katja Kroschewski.

AI is already influencing research at DESY and other centres of the Helmholtz Association, which held a Helmholtz AI Conference in Hamburg in mid-June. “We joined in as the AI Perspectives group and organised our first interdisciplinary workshop with experts from science and technology, art, music and philosophy,” says Miriam Huckschlag from RM. On top of that, there was a public AI discussion evening at DESY.

Edgar Weckert, Director of Photon Science, posed the question “How much responsibility do I surrender?” Judith Katzy from the Helmholtz AI Steering Committee pointed out the fantastic machine learning methods “that were simply unthinkable in the past. In research, we can address problems much faster with AI.” Lukas Klein from the German Cancer Research Institute in Heidelberg summarised one of his observations as follows: “AI is good at remembering – humans are good at generalising.” And Peter Steinbach from the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf noted that “Errors occur when data is entered. Chat GPT never says 'I don't know' though. That's why we still need humans.”

The general consensus is that we need to understand what we are doing – and be able to explain it. This is another reason why more DESY-AI Perspective events will follow. In case you missed the discussion evening: you can find the recording on the DESY YouTube channel.

PS: One more note: This article was written without the help of Chat GPT. And another goodie: Katja Kroschewski asked Chat GPT to write a poem about the workshop and discussion event. Here is one of ten stanzas, to be enjoyed at your own risk:

With eager anticipation, my heart held tight,
I embarked on a journey, a day shining so bright.
Speakers of knowledge, experts in their domain,
Unveiling the mysteries of AI's complex terrain.

No costs involved? About handling AI-based services at DESY

ChatGPT, DeepL or VirusTotal – AI-supported tools can solve complex questions and tasks at breathtaking speed precisely targeted to our individual wishes. However, IT expert Martin Gloris and data protection officer Carsten Porthun explain what we should know before entering sensitive business data, construction plans or personal data into apps or websites.

SUSTAINABILITY AT DESY IS A TOPIC OF INTERNATIONAL CONVERSATION

Media success for Denise Völker and her sustainability team: The UK online science magazine Nature Reviews Physics has published an article on sustainability at DESY. In “Making science sustainable at DESY”, Denise Völker talks about the energy and resources the staff unit uses to ensure sustainable, climate-friendly changes at DESY and why a team like hers is so important for a major research centre. “DESY is a pioneer in the international physics world here,” says Denise Völker. A must-read

LATEST ISSUE OF FEMTO: LASERS

When the first laser started operating in Theodore Maiman's laboratory in California in 1960, it was considered scientifically interesting but a bit odd. Since then, the odd light has become an allround tool in research and industry. It cuts steel, analyses the atmosphere and can even fuse atomic nuclei. Research often places extreme demands on lasers. That is why laser technology is also a strong driver of innovation for new applications that were considered unthinkable just a few years ago. Lasers are the focus of the new issue of DESY's research magazine “femto”. You can download or order the German edition already; the English-language issue will be published later this month.

NEW EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES OFFICER

Christina Buban has been DESY's new Equal Opportunities Officer since 1 July. Perhaps her name and face look familiar to you already: she has been at DESY for many years and most recently worked at PT-DESY. We will report more about her soon.

Canteen revovation: finer dining

In conclusion, another construction site: Things are happening in and around the DESY canteen building. “It is high time to renew the canteen/cafeteria, which is getting on in years, both technically and visually,” says Riccardo Lami, Head of DESY Campus Management. “The modernisation started at the beginning of July.” To avoid you having plaster crumbling into your soup, a canteen tent was erected for the interim. The canteen extension is still in use, too. The kitchen is temporarily moving into containers set up for the purpose. And the food on offer will be limited to two menu lines plus a snack point during the renovation phase. There will be three serving points. There remains only one important question: how long will the construction work take? “We expect it to take six months,” says Lami, who is counting on the understanding of all DESY residents during the transition period.

“The planned measure is essentially a renovation and elimination of defects,” says Kurt Schieche from the building department. “And that is in the areas of plumbing, electrical and ventilation.” The ATM on the ground floor will remain accessible.

DESY inform-team:

Editing and realisation: Kristin Hüttmann and Christina Mänz
Editorial team: Barbara Warmbein, Thomas Zoufal, Till Mundzeck, Maike Bierbaum, Kathrin Schulz, Ilka Flegel
Production and design: Stefanie Fahlfeder, Cristina Lopez Gonzalez
Images: DESY: Marta Mayer, Christina Mänz, Zeynep Isil Isik Dursun, Cristina Lopez Gonzalez; Impuls-Design, T. Heinrich / B. Duraj; HPP International, Felix Schmale / TU Dortmund.
Contact: inform@desy.de