29.05.2011

Starting shot for “Ioffe Röntgen Institute”

DESY and the Kurchatov Institute start the German-Russian Year of Science with a common institution

On the evening of 23 May in Moscow, DESY directors Helmut Dosch and Edgar Weckert and the director of the Kurchatov Institute Mihail Kovalchuk signed a letter of intent for the foundation of the Ioffe Röntgen Institute. The planned institution will in the long run intensify the cooperation between German and Russian scientists.

Helmut Dosch (DESY, l.) and Mihail Kovalchuk (Kurchatov institute)

The signing took place in the presence of German Federal Minister of Research Annette Schavan and her Russian colleague Andrei Fursenko. Both ministers had previously inaugurated the German-Russian Year of Education, Science and Innovation at a festive event that took place in the auditorium of the Lomonossov University. At an additional event in Moscow, within the framework of this initiative under the motto “Partnership of Ideas”, the Helmholtz Association presented important common research topics to be advanced in collaboration with Russian institutions. This includes photon, neutron and ion sources that facilitate a deep insight into the structure and dynamics of matter on the atomic and subatomic level.

The new Ioffe Röntgen Institute (IRI) will be the common umbrella for all bilateral projects and initiatives within the scope of these large research infrastructures, thus allowing an even closer collaboration than it is currently the case in this strategically important research field for both countries. DESY on the German side and the Kurchatov Institute on the Russian side will coordinate and support all contents and organisation activities. Offices are planned at both locations. “DESY, with its strong cooperation with Russian institutes in the utilisation and development of photon sources, is indeed predestined for this coordinating role,” said Helmut Dosch, chairman of the DESY directorate. “Most important partners will be other Helmholtz institutes, but also universities and research institutes will be welcome partners.”

The name of the institute goes back to the discoverer of X-ray radiation Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and the Russian Physicist Abram Fjodorowitsch Ioffe who was a PhD student of Röntgen and who is also considered the father of Russian semiconductor physics.

After its inauguration in the first half of 2012, IRI will cover common activities in the field of research and development of large scale facilities, conferences and training. Prior to that, it is now necessary to clarify particularly financial and legal aspects of the German and Russian partners.