The President's Prize for Excellent Students has been awarded annually since 1995. Every year - traditionally at the end of the winter semester - particularly good students can look forward to a certificate and € 250 in prize money; the awards are financed by the Christian Kuhlemann Foundation, represented by the Friends of the University. Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù is responsible for the ceremony.

A total of 20 students from all 9 faculties were selected. This year, the students decided to donate ten per cent of their prize money for social causes. Prizes were awarded to: Stefanie Rötemeier, Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Sciences; Eileen Wystub, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geodetic Science; Sönke Südbeck and Tobias Nießen, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Felix Lücke and Lisa Marie Gruhl, Faculty of Law; Mathias Tantau, Mathäus Winkler and Alexander Oleff Faculty of Mechanical Engineering; Simon Brennecke, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Chris Daniel Rosendahl, Anne Schmitz and Stephanie Mittrach, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Nadine Christine Golenia, Henriette Lange, Ricarda Darm and Armin Wühle, Faculty of Humanities, Lukas Bertram, Julia Meyer und Marc Alexander Kühn, Faculty of Economics and Management.

Scientists at Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover and the Max Planck Institute, in collaboration with British researchers, developed many of the key laser technologies which contributed to the unprecedented sensitivity of aLIGO and tested it in the gravitational-wave detector GEO600 in Ruthe near Hannover. GEO600 serves as an ideas factory and testing facility for advanced detector technologies. A large part of the data analysis also takes place in Hannover. Most of the measurement data from the observatories in the USA land in the Hannover cluster Atlas, the largest computer cluster worldwide for analysing the data of gravitational waves.

Since the 1960s, gravitational wave research has been conducted by an international collaboration of scientists who worked closely together despite the challenges of the cold war and funding shortages in many countries. Max Planck scientists were involved right from the beginning and have made many key contributions. Today the field has grown into a global network of more than 1000 scientists.

Max Planck Society and Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù scientists make crucial contributions

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI) in Hannover and Potsdam, Germany, and from the Institute for Gravitational Physics at Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover have made crucial contributions to the discoveries in several key areas:

• development and operation of highly sensitive detectors pushed to the limits of physics,
• efficient data analysis methods running on powerful computer clusters, and
• construction of accurate waveform models for the detection and interpretation of signals.

Pioneering gravitational-wave research in the Max Planck Society

The first direct detection of gravitational waves on 14th September 2015 was the culmination of decades of research in gravitational wave detection in the Max Planck Society going back to the very beginning of the field in the 1960s. A Max Planck group at the MPI for Physics and Astrophysics in Munich led by Heinz Billing († 4th January 2017) conducted coincidence experiments between resonant mass detectors to disprove the early claims of gravitational wave detection in the 1960s. At the beginning of the 1970s, Billing's group began - at that time as the only people in the world - to work with laser interferometry. The group built prototypes and pushed technology development ahead.

The Max Planck Society consistently supported this group after Billing retired, passing the baton to Gerd Leuchs in 1986 and in 1989 to Karsten Danzmann. With British partners at the Universities of Glasgow and Cardiff, they were the first to design and propose a large-scale interferometric detector with 3 kilometre long arms, but funding for such an instrument was not available in Germany.

In 1995 the Max Planck Society brought Bernard Schutz over from Cardiff to Germany to help found the AEI, first in Potsdam and in 2002 in Hannover, with the explicit mission of becoming a world centre for gravitational-wave research. Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover and the Volkswagen Foundation had come on board just before, and cooperation with Glasgow and Cardiff was intensified. In 1994 was the starting point for GEO600, a low-cost German-British gravitational wave observatory, which - in parallel to observation runs with the LIGO and Virgo instruments - has been serving as a think tank for detector development ever since. The high-end technology created here now forms the heart of all large gravitational wave observatories, including Advanced LIGO.

Predicting gravitational wave signals with novel methods to solve Einstein equations

While experimentalists were constructing ever more sensitive instruments, theorists were developing precise ideas of what the expected gravitational wave signals and their sources would be like. Soon it became clear that complex data analysis methods would be needed to detect the faint signals. Bernard Schutz had pioneered these methods with data from the Munich and Glasgow small detector prototypes, and the AEI became a world centre for the development of sophisticated analysis methods. Schutz also established what was then the world's largest group for supercomputer simulations of black-hole mergers; such simulations were an integral part of the detection and interpretation of Advanced LIGO's observations.

Simulated gravitational waveforms are important but not sufficient. Since data-analysis algorithms use several hundred thousand templates and it may take weeks to produce one single simulation, it is crucial to develop approximate but fast methods to solve the Einstein equations, so that waveforms can be quickly generated.

In the late 1990s Alessandra Buonanno, since 2014 director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam and College Park Professor at the University of Maryland, and Thibault Damour (IHES, Paris) developed a novel approach to the binary-orbit problem that combines several approximate methods for constructing waveforms from coalescing binary black holes. Over the last 15 years this formalism has been developed into a highly accurate method that also includes results from numerical-relativity simulations, and extends to binary neutron stars. Scientists at the AEI in Potsdam, and earlier at the University of Maryland, have been building accurate waveform models combining the best tools to solve Einstein equations and have been using them to detect gravitational waves in the Advanced LIGO observation runs. AEI Potsdam researchers also employ those waveform models to infer astrophysical and fundamental physics properties of the binary systems, and to test General Relativity.

Finding gravitational waves: Data analysis on high-performance supercomputers

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, led by Bruce Allen, use these templates to analyse the detector data on high-performance supercomputers. Once the signals have been found, the templates are used to infer astrophysical information upon the detection: where exactly is the source? What is its nature? Black holes and/or neutron stars? What are their masses and spins?

For the first detections of gravitational waves, the AEI researchers carried out most of the production data analysis. In addition, the majority of the computational resources for the discovery and analysis of the Advanced LIGO data were provided by Atlas, the most powerful computer cluster in the world designed for gravitational-wave data analysis, operated by the AEI in Hannover. Atlas has provided about 160 million CPU core hours for the analysis of Advanced LIGO data, almost half of the global LIGO computing efforts.

Illuminating the dark side of the Universe

This close interplay of experiment, simulations, analytical calculations, and data analysis ultimately allows scientists to bring light into the dark and invisible side of the Universe. Today's Nobel Prize announcement honours the founding fathers of this field whose pioneering work rendered the dawn of a new era of astronomy possible.

Posters and postcards showing music student Eszter (25) and mechatronics student Anas (25) tell of the difficulties encountered by the 5,500+ international students who have come to the state capital to study or do a PhD. An extra member of staff at Hannover Student Services will now endeavour to establish contacts between landlords and international students, clarifying questions in advance. Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù - home to some 3,000 international students - supports the campaign.

Hannover Student Services is an important partner when it comes to housing and integrating international students. Even now, almost 60 per cent of the 2,300 places in student residences are allocated to students from abroad.

The higher education institutions, Student Services and the state capital are supported by associations and the housing industry. For example, the Gesellschaft Bauen und Wohnen Hannover (GBH) will reserve a certain number of rooms for international students in its new building projects. Haus + Grundeigentum Hannover, Gundlach and the Lower Saxony Verband der Wohnungs- und Immobilienwirtschaft have decided to put students from abroad in direct contact with their members.

Background:

One year ago, the state capital of Hannover was chosen by the Bertelsmann Stiftung to be a pilot region for establishing a welcoming culture for international students. By the end of 2016, the higher education institutions, Student Services, the Employment Agency, Gesellschaft für Bauen und Wohnen mbH, students and the city of Hannover will have jointly developed measures related to the core activities of integration, accommodation, anti-discrimination, "Study and Stay" and access to higher education by refugees. A national network meeting with eleven other university cities enables them to exchange information about best practices.

All of Hannover''s higher education institutions, Hannover Student Services, Fraunhofer ITEM, the Geocentre, the Volkswagen Foundation, hannoverimpuls GmbH and the state capital of Hannover are actively involved in the Hannover Science Initiative. The network has been coordinated by the "Science City of Hannover" division of the Lord Mayor''s Office since 2007.

For more information, please visit and .

Interested landlords should contact Hannover Student Services:
Birte Wiedenroth
0511 76 88 069
zimmer@studentenwerk-hannover.de
Monday to Friday: 09:00 to 13:00

"LISA Pathfinder is still working perfectly! Releasing the test masses required some learning, but the team soon came up with an elegant solution. By successfully operating a laser interferometer in space between two freely floating test masses, LISA Pathfinder has created a genuine world novelty," stated Professor Karsten Danzmann, Head of the Institute of Gravitational Physics at Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover and Director of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics. "We will shortly begin our science mission, which will demonstrate key technologies for observing gravitational waves in space."

Precise measurements using laser interferometry

A laser interferometer is located between the two test masses, which sit some 38 centimetres apart. This device measures the positions and direction of the two test masses relative to the satellite and to each other with unprecedented accuracy of around ten picometres (one picometre equates to a billionth of a millimetre). The aim is to measure perfect free fall. This optical precision measurement system was developed and constructed under the leadership and with the significant participation of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitation Physics and Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover.

Data analysis in Hannover

After a week of final tests, LISA Pathfinder's science mission will begin on 1 March 2016. The mission involves demonstrating and validating key technologies for proving gravitational waves in space, paving the way for future gravitational wave observatories in space, such as eLISA.

Researchers from the Max Planck Society and Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover play a leading role in developing the evaluation software, which is material to extracting the crucial information from the measured data. To achieve this, the institute operates a control room in Hannover. Since the immediate evaluation of the data is essential for configuring follow-up tests, researchers from the institute also work round-the-clock shifts at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of the European Space Agency ESA in Darmstadt.

LISA Pathfinder is an ESA mission. Airbus DS undertakes responsibility for the system of the mission, involving European aerospace companies, research institutions from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain, and NASA.

LISA Pathfinder is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy via the German Aerospace Center (DLR) based on a resolution passed by the German Bundestag.

At the beginning of June last year the Senate and the University Council confirmed in a unanimous vote their decision in favour of Volker Epping assuming the new office. In doing so, the members of the Senate and the University Council followed the recommendation of the selection committee who had proposed Volker Epping as the sole candidate.

Today, Friday 9 January 2015, Professor Epping officially received the Chain of Office of the President from the hands of his predecessor Professor Dr.-Ing. Erich Barke. He wished the new President and his team all the best for the future - with heart and mind, said Erich Barke. "I will do everything in my power to serve the best interests of our university", promised Professor Epping in his address upon assuming office. During his time in office his predecessor succeeded in binding the faculties more closely together and strengthening a feeling of togetherness at Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù. "It is no longer important if a colleague is an engineer, a natural scientist or a scholar of humanities to achieve a good partnership and good understanding. The curiosity to hear how the other faculties and disciplines think, what the other disciplines achieve has grown. A sense of awareness has been created that only all of us together will be able to lead this university into a good future", the new President stated.

It is true that he is a lawyer by profession; however, he is now President of the whole university consisting of nine faculties and the Leibniz Research School, which enjoys broadly the same status as the faculties. "My attention will now be focussed on Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù in its entirety", he continued. Passing on the Chain of Office is both a visible expression of the continuation of the university as an institution and also the office of President. However, a President is not powerful because he has been invested with formal rights. "A President must draw more on his personality and less on his office to assert his authority and exercise his power of persuasiveness", Professor Epping emphasised.

As President he will have to attend to numerous tasks, which it is possible to divide into three central fields of activity: integration, representation as well as strategy and guidance. "I do not just see the university as a unit, but rather I wish to actively lead this unit by example", explained Professor Epping and announced that he wished to represent the interests of the university both internally and externally in the political arena, in society and the business world: "After all, as President I am both the helmsman and motor driving the necessary changes in terms of optimising and strategic orientation of our university, which of course should be supported by the majority of its members."

Afterwards at the New Year's reception of Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù, Professor Epping presented several of his objectives for the coming years. The President wishes to place particular emphasis on strengthening the research profile of the university. The existing focus of research in the fields of mechanical engineering, physics as well as biomedical engineering are to be broadened still further; however, that depends on the financial support of political policy makers. "As an example I wish to - quite consciously - single out three research building projects: first and foremost the mechanical engineering campus that is due to be built in Garbsen, next to that the research building HITec whose foundation stone is due to be laid this January and - to name one more example - the NIFE research building", the President said.

It was the state that wanted to relocate the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering to Garbsen and it is the state's responsibility to ensure it is completed. "We are building without any frills, reduced to an absolute minimum. Nevertheless, the technical demands are huge and, as a consequence, the volume of costs high." However, the basic funding level for the university has been frozen since 2005 and as a result finances are more than just at breaking point, in particular as far as energy costs and building maintenance are concerned. "We are being forced to live above our means, and we meet the previously stated costs by not filling vacant positions with personnel. But we are paying the price for these savings with our most valuable assets: clever and talented people. We must escape from this form of self-cannibalisation that has been imposed on us!", demanded Volker Epping emphatically.

Furthermore, together with the Hannover Institute of Technology (HITec) Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù is planning an interdisciplinary research infrastructure for quantum technologies. In addition to carrying out basic research in the field of physics in cooperation with the geodetic and engineering sciences, HITec also stands for an interdisciplinary approach to research and study as embodied by the spirit of Leibniz, Professor Epping stated.

As a final example for innovative research building the President named the Lower Saxony Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Implant Research and Development. Bio-medicine and biomedical engineering underscore a third nationally and internationally visible research focus of the university. This subject area is the nucleus of that with which the research region Braunschweig/Hannover will be applying for funds in the next round of the excellence initiative 2017. However, apart from the excellence initiative the university should not lose sight of other avenues of support in order to be able to place new research topics before the appropriate third-party donors.

However, Professor Epping emphasised that leading individual research, which often receives scant regard in the debate on the need to focus resources, is of fundamental importance. "It is the basis for interdisciplinary success and inspiration. And, even if it is not included in large research networks, it continues to remain important for our university: We are - I like using this expression - total service providers". That means that beyond interdisciplinary cooperation we depend on excellent researchers and teachers - and we have them already!"

Another objective is to strengthen teacher training, declared Professor Epping. 6000 students are currently enrolled in teacher training courses at Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù. "Consequently, Hannover must not only be the foremost location for training teachers for grammar schools, but also for related areas of research, the President emphasised. The field of reflection on science should also become much more visible in future. The question, amongst others, at the centre of attention is what effect does science have on society and, vice versa, society on science.

Volker Epping emphasised raising awareness of the teaching profile as the third objective: "We are only a university because we have students." Leading research and excellent academic training must go hand in hand. As a consequence, conditions for studying need to be improved to achieve optimum external boundary conditions for training based on science.

The conditions for research and training in Hannover are excellent in almost all fields and this fact needs to be made clear to the outside world. Not many people are aware of just what a treasure Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù represents. "Together with you I will attempt to make everybody aware of the importance of the university, above all for the city", said Professor Epping stating his fourth objective. That also includes networking with business. It should be in the interests of each and every company to become active as soon as possible and support the qualified talent being trained at the university. An appropriate instrument is available to them in the form of the Germany Scholarship.

Supporting young talent is a further priority of his work, the President explained further: "My fifth objective, under the banner of human resources development, includes above all the doctoral stage, precisely to acquire additional scientific allowances, but also to attract promising young brains. As presidential board we have placed opening a career path as early as possible for precisely this group of people on a to-do list." That is the only approach to guarantee our competitiveness in particular with regard to the states in the south of Germany. As the competition for the best brains is no longer a national but also an international competition, the internationalisation of Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù is his sixth objective, emphasised Professor Epping. As a consequence, the presidential board has been increased to include two further areas of responsibility with focus on "human resources development" and "international affairs".

At the conclusion of his speech the new President introduced his team. The office of Vice President for Teaching and Academic Programmes will remain in the hands of Professor Dr. Elfriede Billmann-Mahecha. Dr. Christoph Strutz will also remain a full-time member of the presidential board. Professor Dr. Joachim Escher from the Institute of Applied Mathematics is responsible for appointment issues, human resources development and continuing education. Following her appointment, his colleague Professor Dr.-Ing. Monika Sester from the Institute of Cartography and Geoinformatics will take over responsibility for international affairs. Professor Dr.-Ing. Peter Wriggers from the Institute of Continuum Mechanics will be Vice President for Research.

As one of his first acts in his new office, Professor Epping then bestowed Professor Christian Werthmann from the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Sciences with the Excellent Lecture Award.

Notes for Editor

For more information, please contact Mechtild Freiin v. Münchhausen, Head of Communications and Marketing and spokesperson of Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover, on +49 511 762 5342 or send an e-mail to kommunikation@uni-hannover.de.

His certificate of appointment states: "Professor Barke was President of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover from 2005 to 2014. He played an essential role in shaping its internal and external identity by renaming the university after the polymath Leibniz as well as promoting the university in the city and throughout the Hannover region. Throughout his tenure he placed as much importance on close cooperation with the other Hannover universities, the Braunschweig and Clausthal universities of technology as well as with non-university research facilities as equally as networking Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover with the TU9 universities. He was particularly concerned with the well-being of the students. For instance, Mr Barke also successfully acquired significant sums in the form of donations for scholarships. In addition, he provided a substantial amount of input for interdisciplinary cooperation. In doing so, he not only made a significant contribution towards raising the profile of Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù but also promoting a sense of togetherness among its members."

Notes for Editors

For more information, please contact Mechtild Freiin v. Münchhausen, Head of Communications and Marketing and spokesperson of Leibniz ±«²Ô¾±±¹±ð°ù²õ¾±³Ùä³Ù Hannover, on +49 511 762 5342 or send an e-mail to kommunikation@uni-hannover.de.