Cutting-edge German Research

The is Germany’s largest science organisation and plays a leading international role. It promotes and dedicates itself to pressing issues in academia and . Some 46,000 academics, scientists and researchers conduct research on behalf of Helmholtz at multiple locations, including the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig.

The Helmholtz Association is named after Hermann von Helmholtz. He was one of the 19th century's greatest natural scientists. He also founded the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt (PTR, Physical-Technical Reichs Institute). It is considered to be the world’s first non-university . 

Who are the Helmholtz members?

8 German research centres combined to form the Helmholtz Association. They operate in an interdisciplinary fashion and conduct both basic research and applied research. Well-known Helmholtz Centres include:

• (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR))

What does Helmholtz do?

The association conducts research into pressing issues in academia and science. This includes a wide range of disciplines divided into the following sectors:

• Health: development of new therapies and preventive measures
• Energy: research into more sustainable and efficient energy
• Earth and environment: research into climate change and its impacts
• Key technologies: research into domains like artificial intelligence and quantum computers
• Matter: research into the fundamental building blocks of matter
• Aerospace: development of new technologies for aerospace and earth observation at DLR

The Helmholtz Association is predominantly financed from public funds provided by the federal government and governments of the federal states. Employees benefit among other things from the world’s most powerful x-ray laser, research vessels and supercomputers to enable them to conduct their research.

How many locations does the Helmholtz Association have?

It is represented throughout Germany. Its 18 Centres are distributed nationally, to be exact in: Bremerhaven, Geesthacht, Oldenburg, Braunschweig, Greifswald, Hamburg, Berlin, Potsdam, Leipzig, Dresden, Jülich, Münster, Bonn, Erlangen-Nürnberg, Karlsruhe, Ulm, Munich, Heidelberg and Saarbrücken.