Ein a hall full of young people? This is surprising even for the mayor of Görlitz. “What a beautiful picture,” said Octavian Ursu (CDU) when he opened the presentation of the future Center for Astrophysics in the Humboldthaus on Tuesday evening. One almost gets the impression that the entire youth of the Neisse town, often described as a paradise for pensioners, has come to find out about their future. Just ten days ago, the federal government’s decision to locate the German Center for Astrophysics (DZA) in Lusatia caused a sensation. The large-scale research project, worth billions, emerged as the winner of a research competition that was unique in Germany: As compensation for the politically desired phase-out of lignite, the federal government is donating 1.2 billion euros for a pioneering research project in the hope of positively influencing structural change.
Astrophysics instead of coal buddy so? For many Lusatians this is still difficult to imagine. That is why Christian Stegmann speaks at the beginning of huge telescopes, with which so-called gravitational waves were measured for the first time in 2016, which had been predicted by Albert Einstein a hundred years earlier. The discovery is considered a milestone in astronomy and the beginning of something completely new, says Stegmann, Director of Astroparticle Physics at the German Electron Synchrotron, which is dedicated to decoding matter. Alongside Günther Hasinger, the research director of the European Space Agency ESA and designated founding director of the Lausitz project, Stegmann is one of the leading figures in the project. “For astronomy,” he says, “a golden age is just beginning.” Astrophysics is booming.
