All Articles on Theme Physics

Team from Vienna and Frankfurt finds formula for a curious phenomenon

Over the past century, quantum physics has given rise to countless technologies that have fundamentally impacted everyday life. It all began with the curiosity of scientists – especially physicists. In 1900, Max Planck proposed that light consists of individual quanta (photons), thereby identifying what would later become the defining constant of the quantum world: the Planck constant h.

Physicist Olena Fedchenko conducts research at Goethe University on novel quantum materials that will be key to future technological breakthroughs. Since 2025, she has held the Gisela-and Wilfried Eckhardt Endowed Professorship for Experimental Physics, financed through returns from the Gisela and Wilfried Eckhardt Endowment Fund at Goethe University. This endowment fund is now being supported by the Volkswagen Foundation with two million euros as part of its Lichtenberg Program. Among other activities, Olena Fedchenko conducts research in the Collaborative Research Center/Transregio ElastoQMat as part of the joint activities of the Rhine-Main Universities (RMU).

The German Science and Humanities Council has highlighted the scientific and strategic importance of the planned High Brilliance Neutron Source, in the development of which Goethe University is involved. In its statement released today, it expressly recommends that the first phase of the facility, known as HBS-I, be implemented at Forschungszentrum Jülich.

How can particle collisions at the highest energies or cosmic radiation in the Earth’s atmosphere be simulated? This question is addressed in a comprehensive review article that was recently published in the renowned journal Nature Reviews Physics. Prof. Dr. Marcus Bleicher from the Institute for Theoretical Physics is among the authors of the international research team.

When ultrathin crystal layers are stacked on top of each other with a slight twist, so-called moiré materials with entirely new quantum properties emerge. An international research team involving Goethe University has now observed in detail for the first time how a special form of superconductivity arises in such materials.