Albert Einstein Science Park

The Albert Einstein Science Park is one of the most traditional scientific sites in Germany. For almost 150 years, it has housed facilities dedicated to the study of the heavens and the earth. The world's first astrophysical observatory was built here; it is the cradle of scientific exploration of the Earth's surface (geodesy) and the systematic measurement of the Earth's magnetic field; and it is a birthplace of German meteorology.

Nearly 1.300 employees work today at the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), founded in 1992 and a Helmholtz Centre in 2008. It evolved from the renowned East German Central Institute for Physics of the Earth (1969) and the Royal Prussian Geodetic Institute, which was located here before that (1870). In addition, the GFZ houses internationally respected institutions such as the Potsdam branch of the Alfred Wegener Institute, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, and the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) with its historic telescopes, the "Great Refractor" and the "Einstein Tower Solar Observatory." Measurements for the German Meteorological Service are also conducted here.