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36-796: Until 2018, Calar Alto was owned and operated jointly by the German Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, and the Spanish Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Granada . It was named the "German–Spanish Astronomical Centre" (in Spanish, Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán (CAHA) ; in German, Deutsch-Spanisches Astronomisches Zentrum ). In 2019, the Council of Andalusia takes over

72-587: A bigger telescope with higher resolution in autumn 2002. In 2022, MPIA was taking part in the preparatory work for installing in the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile with a 39-meter mirror (the largest telescope in the world). Three scientific questions are given priority at the MPIA. One is the formation and development of stars and planets in our cosmic neighbourhood. The resonating question is: Is

108-472: A newly founded Haus der Astronomie . Every few years, the MPIA hosts an Open Day for the general public. On the event, visitors can interact in English with the institute's experts and attend brief seminars in which they are introduced to the institute's astronomical research and instruments. In 2009, "Haus der Astronomie", a center for astronomy education and outreach was founded on the MPIA campus. The center

144-543: Is 3190 m high. On its mount, it carries two primary mirrors, each 8.4 meters in diameter, making it the largest optical reflecting telescope with single monolithic primary mirrors in the world. Additionally, MPIA is participating in providing with instruments and using of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) operated by ESO (European Southern Observatories). With the assistance of the MPIA two of VLT's 8-meter mirrors were linked together in such way that they could work as

180-531: Is Laura Kreidberg (as of January 2024). Former and current external scientific members of the MPIA were and are: At the end of 2021, a total of 392 people were employed at the Institute, including 190 scientists, among them 95 junior and visiting scientists. In the same year, 52 doctoral students were supervised in cooperation with the University of Heidelberg. Nine independent research groups have been established at

216-982: Is a partnership between the Max Planck Society , the Klaus Tschira Foundation , Heidelberg University and the City of Heidelberg. The center's galaxy-shaped building, funded and constructed by the Klaus Tschira Foundation, was opened in December 2011. It is operated by the Max Planck Society, which has delegated the task to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. Activities in Haus der Astronomie include public talks and guided tours, planetarium shows, workshops for school classes or kindergarten groups,

252-605: Is a project to examine approximately 300 M-dwarf stars for signs of exoplanets with the CARMENES instrument on Calar Alto's 3.5m telescope. Operating since 2016, it aims to find Earth-sized exoplanets around 2 M E ( Earth masses ) using Doppler spectroscopy (also called the radial velocity method). Close to a hundred minor planets have been discovered at Calar Alto by astronomers Luboš Kohoutek , Kurt Birkle , Ulrich Hopp , Johann Baur , Krisztián Sárneczky , Gyula Szabó , Felix Hormuth and Hermann Boehnhardt . In addition,

288-426: Is an establishment founded for doing research . Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research . Although the term often implies natural science research, there are also many research institutes in the social science as well, especially for sociological and historical research purposes. In the early medieval period, several astronomical observatories were built in

324-719: Is the largest telescope on European soil with an equatorial mount . There is also a 1.52 m (60 in) telescope that is owned and operated by the Spanish National Observatory and a robotic telescope operated by the Spanish Astrobiology Center (CAB). The CALIFA survey (Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area survey) is an astronomical project to map 600 galaxies with imaging spectroscopy ( integral field spectroscopy (IFS) ). The CARMENES survey (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M-dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs)

360-576: The Minor Planet Center , directly credits "Calar Alto" with the discovery of the following minor planets: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy The Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie ( Max Planck Institute for Astronomy , MPIA ) is a research institute of the Max Planck Society (MPG). It is located in Heidelberg , Baden-Württemberg , Germany near the top of the Königstuhl , adjacent to

396-685: The Rockefeller Institute , Carnegie Institution of Washington and the Institute for Advanced Study . Research was advanced in both theory and application. This was aided by substantial private donation. As of 2006, there were over 14,000 research centres in the United States. The expansion of universities into the faculty of research fed into these developments as mass education produced mass scientific communities . A growing public consciousness of scientific research brought public perception to

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432-513: The Sun with its inhabited planet Earth unique, or are there also conditions in the vicinity of other stars, at least the numerous sun-like ones among them, that are conducive to life ? In some aspect related to those topics, the APEx department studies exoplanets and aims to decipher their atmospheres by observation and modelling. On the other hand, the area of galaxies and cosmology is about understanding

468-612: The life sciences to promote, strengthen and combine scientific research towards the prerequisites for the emergence of life. The MPIA also builds instruments or parts of them for ground-based telescopes and satellites, including the following: The MPIA is also participating in the Gaia mission. Gaia is a space mission of the European Space Agency (ESA), in which the exact positions, distances and velocities of around one billion Milky Way stars are determined. The managing director

504-560: The 14th and 16th centuries and the original discoveries of the school seems to have ended with Narayana Bhattathiri (1559–1632). In attempting to solve astronomical problems, the Kerala school independently discovered a number of important mathematical concepts. The earliest research institute in Europe was Tycho Brahe 's Uraniborg complex on the island of Hven , a 16th-century astronomical laboratory set up to make highly accurate measurements of

540-497: The 4-meter Eastern Anatolian Observatory telescope, though there are three larger telescopes on the Spanish island of La Palma at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory . The minor planet 189202 Calar Alto , discovered by Felix Hormuth at Starkenburg Observatory in 2003, was named in honor of the observatory site. The site was proposed in 1970, and was officially opened in July 1975 with

576-654: The German partner, sharing the observatory with the Spanish National Research Council through its head institute, IAA-CSIC. Calar Alto telescopes are used for a broad range of observations, from objects in the Solar System to cosmology (the Alhambra and CALIFA surveys), including the search for exoplanets (the CARMENES survey). The 3.5-meter telescope is the second-largest telescope in mainland Europe after

612-748: The IMPRS are the MPIK, the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and the HITS. Since 2007, the IMPRS has been part of the Heidelberg Graduate School of Fundamental Physics . Spokespersons of the IMPRS are Hans-Walter Rix from MPIA and Stefan Wagner from the Landessternwarte Heidelberg. The MPIA hosts the editorial office of the popular journal Sterne und Weltraum (lit. Stars and Space), which

648-489: The International Centre for Theoretical Physics and the research complex Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, the biology project EMBL, and the fusion project ITER which in addition to technical developments has a strong research focus. Research institutes came to emerge at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1900, at least in Europe and the United States, the scientific profession had only evolved so far as to include

684-584: The Islamic world. The first of these was the 9th-century Baghdad observatory built during the time of the Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun , though the most famous were the 13th-century Maragheh observatory , and the 15th-century Ulugh Beg Observatory . The Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics was a school of mathematics and astronomy founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama in Kerala , India . The school flourished between

720-623: The MPIA in Heidelberg is a globally renowned centre of astronomical research. Since 2015, the MPIA has been running the " Heidelberg Initiative for the Origins of Life " (HIFOL) together with the MPIK, the HITS, the Institute of Geosciences at Heidelberg University and the Department of Chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU). HIFOL brings together top researchers from astrophysics, geosciences, chemistry and

756-535: The MPIA per 2021. These include three Max Planck Research Groups, two Lise Meitner Groups, and two European research groups. Two groups are funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation . The MPIA participates in the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics. The IMPRS is an English-language doctoral program that started in 2005. Other partners of

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792-486: The commissioning of its 1.23-meter (48 in) telescope. The site developed thanks to German and Spanish cooperation in astronomy. Eventually, four more telescopes were commissioned. The Schmidt telescope was moved to Calar Alto in 1976 from the Hamburg Observatory at Bergedorf, where it had been completed in 1954. The observatory hosted the finish of Stage 11 of the 2017 Vuelta a España cycling race (the stage

828-641: The development of educational materials, pre-service training for teacher students at Heidelberg University and in-service training for German and international teachers. Every year, Haus der Astronomie offers International Summer Internship Program for students in their senior year of high school and recent graduates. During the program participants can engage in astrophysical activities like experiments and observation. 49°23′47″N 8°43′25″E  /  49.39639°N 8.72361°E  / 49.39639; 8.72361 Research institute A research institute , research centre , or research organization

864-618: The development of today's richly structured Universe with its galaxies and stars and its emergence from the simple initial state after the Big Bang . The research topics at a glance: Together with the Center for Astronomy at the University of Heidelberg, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and the Department of Astro- and Particle Physics of the MPI for Nuclear Physics (MPIK),

900-404: The historic Landessternwarte Heidelberg-Königstuhl astronomical observatory . The institute primarily conducts basic research in the natural sciences in the field of astronomy . In addition to its own astronomical observations and astronomical research, the Institute is also actively involved in the development of observation instruments. The instruments or parts of them are manufactured in

936-466: The institute's own workshops. The founding of the institute in 1967 resulted from the insight that a supra-regional institute equipped with powerful telescopes was necessary in order to conduct internationally competitive astronomical research. Hans Elsässer , an astronomer, became the founding director in 1968. In February 1969, a first group of 5 employees started work in the buildings of the neighbouring Königstuhl State Observatory. The institute, which

972-733: The principles of mass production and large-scale teamwork to the process of invention in the late 1800s, and because of that, he is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. From the throes of the Scientific Revolution came the 17th century scientific academy. In London, the Royal Society was founded in 1660, and in France Louis XIV founded the Académie royale des sciences in 1666 which came after private academic assemblies had been created earlier in

1008-576: The regional government of Andalusia and the MPG signed a transfer agreement for the 50% share in the observatory. Since then, it has been owned exclusively by Spain. Since 2005, the MPIA has been operating the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) together with partners from Germany, Italy, and the USA and equipping it with measuring instruments. The LBT is located on Mount Graham near Tucson , Arizona, which

1044-512: The seventeenth century to foster research. In the early 18th century, Peter the Great established an educational-research institute to be built in his newly created imperial capital, St Petersburg . His plan combined provisions for linguistic, philosophical and scientific instruction with a separate academy in which graduates could pursue further scientific research. It was the first institution of its kind in Europe to conduct scientific research within

1080-458: The stars. In the United States there are numerous notable research institutes including Bell Labs , Xerox Parc , The Scripps Research Institute , Beckman Institute , RTI International , and SRI International . Hughes Aircraft used a research institute structure for its organizational model. Thomas Edison , dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park", was one of the first inventors to apply

1116-726: The structure of a university. The St Petersburg Academy was established by decree on 28 January 1724. At the European level, there are now several government-funded institutions such as the European Space Agency (ESA), the nuclear research centre CERN , the European Southern Observatory (ESO) (Grenoble), the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) (Grenoble), EUMETSAT , the Italian-European Sistema Trieste with, among others,

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1152-421: The theoretical implications of science and not its application. Research scientists had yet to establish a leadership in expertise. Outside scientific circles it was generally assumed that a person in an occupation related to the sciences carried out work which was necessarily "scientific" and that the skill of the scientist did not hold any more merit than the skill of a labourer. A philosophical position on science

1188-478: Was completed in 1975, was initially dedicated to the preparation and evaluation of astronomical observations and the development of new measurement methods. From 1973 to 1984, it operated the Calar Alto Observatory on Calar Alto near Almería together with Spanish authorities. This largest observatory on the European mainland was used equally by astronomers from both countries until 2019. On 23 May 2019,

1224-510: Was founded in 1962 by Hans Elsässer , later founding director of the MPIA, among others. It is also the patron of the Wissenschaft in die Schulen! (lit. Science into Schools) initiative, which develops educational materials for secondary schools. In December 2008, the institute and the Klaus Tschira Foundation announced their intention to bundle the activities of the Heidelberg astronomers in public relations and work with pupils and teachers in

1260-597: Was not thought by all researchers to be intellectually superior to applied methods. However any research on scientific application was limited by comparison. A loose definition attributed all naturally occurring phenomena to "science". The growth of scientific study stimulated a desire to reinvigorate the scientific discipline by robust research in order to extract "pure" science from such broad categorisation. This began with research conducted autonomously away from public utility and governmental supervision. Enclaves for industrial investigations became established. These included

1296-468: Was won by Miguel Ángel López ), having previously hosted stage finishes in 2004 (won by eventual race champion Roberto Heras ) and 2006 (won by Igor Antón ). Calar Alto was climbed on Stage 9 of the Vuelta (AUG 2021). There are 4 main telescopes on site: a 3.5-meter (138-inch), 2.2 m (87 in), and a 1.23 m (48 in) telescope, and an 80 cm (31 in) Schmidt reflector. The 3.5-meter

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