Memorial Sites V
The German Aerospace Center in Oberpfaffenhofen (BR)
On the day when the European space laboratory „Columbus“ docked at the International Space Station, Europe has become a major player in international aerospace. This was also a day of success for the German Aerospace Centre in Oberpfaffenhofen 25 kilometres southwest of Munich, from where Columbus is operated… It didn’t come as a surprise when in 2003 Oberpfaffenhofen got the order from ESA, as the research institute could look back on several decades of experience in manned and unmanned space flight missions. In 1937 it started small as a research institute for radio aircraft…
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The Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich (BR)
His name stands for a scientific mastermind as well as for moral integrity: the physicist and Nobel prize winner Max Planck. After the second world war the founder of quantum physics gave his name to a research society, which had a long and glorious research history under the name “Kaiser Wilhelm Society”, but also played an ambiguous role during the time of National Socialism. Max Planck marked the beginning of a new era. Nowadays 76 Max Planck Institutes carry on basic research in the natural sciences, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. The film focuses on the work and achievements of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich. Like Max Planck, the scientists still try to find out, what keeps the world together.
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The Curie Institute in Paris (CNDP)
For one century the Curie Institute has gathered in two locations in and outside Paris both scientific researchers and physicians, all working on the same issue: the fight against cancer. The film follows Anouchka, a young lady, who is being treated for a breast cancer. It comes back to the foundation of the Institute following the work of Marie Curie and to the major discoveries related to artificial radio activity by Frédéric and Irène Joliot-Curie and ends with some perspectives on the latest scientific research on radio therapy, immunology and the rationalisation of the relationship between science and medicine.
Historians and practicians follow each other on screen to link the discoveries of the pioneers and the modern researches and therapies together. Download Material (.zip)
Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas (FORTH) (ERT)
In Crete – as it is said – lived a giant thousands of years ago: Talos – a creation of Hephaestus! Talos was a gift to King Minos to guard the island. The mythical guard of Crete was the first robot…Talos, in all probability, never existed. What does exist is the tradition in science and research. Nowadays this tradition goes on through the Foundation of Research and Technology. FORTH is the country's best research centre and are proud of 25 years of research, pioneer work, and international prestige...
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The Eliava Institute in Tbilissis(GTVR)
The discovery of penicillin in 1928 played a crucial role in the fight against bacterial diseases. However, until 1943 humans used other means than antibiotics: from 1917 onwards, they started to use bacteriophages, viruses which are parasitic on bacteria… The French scientist Felix d’Herelle had discovered their role and it’s his cooperation in Tbilissi with a young Georgian microbiologist George Eliava, that allowed the development of the phage therapy in Europe and America between the two world wars… The phage therapy was then forgotten in the West and is still considered outdated. D’Herelle never reached the full acclaim in the Scientific world and Eliava was killed by Stalin’s regime. But the Tbilisi Institute Bacteriophage survived to wars and crisis and today the weakening of antibiotics against multi-resistant bacteria makes this old cure important again… Download Material (.zip)
The Via Panisperna Boys - Physics laboratories at Roman University La Sapienza(RAI)
In the 30’s, a beautiful villa located in Via Panisperna 89, Rome, has given home to a world famous Research Institute in Nuclear Physics. At that time, Enrico Fermi and his group of young researchers were among the leading research groups in nuclear physics… After Mussoli had introduced anti-jewish laws in Italy, Fermi and other group members emigrated to the US, and later worked in leading positions within the Manhattan Project, which developed the first atomic bomb. The film tells their story, and the history of the Institute in Via Panisperna...
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From nuclear power to future technology: The Karlsruhe Research Centre (SWR-WDR)
In 1955 full sovereignty was restored to the Federal Republic of Germany. As a result, the country was in a position to begin with the development of nuclear power stations of its own. The history of the Karlsruhe Research Centre mirrors the development of nuclear energy in western Germany, from a technical but also from a social point of view. After three decades, the scepticism was so strong in the German population that the scientists working at the Karlsruhe Research Centre were forced to look for alternative research fields. Today its central concerns are the environment, climate, health and nanotechnology…
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Philips Eindhoven Natlab in Eindhoven(TeleacNOT)
A deserted building somewhere in Eindhoven, bleak and desolate… The Philips Physics Laboratory was the first industrial research laboratory in the Netherlands, but the scientists moved some years ago to a new High Tech Campus. Here were many things invented without which we can hardly imagine our modern lives: lamps and tubes, radio, television, and medical equipment based on X-ray technology… Some became world famous, others disappear without leaving any trace…This programme is about the relationship between fundamental scientific research and commerce within a large industrial organization.
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The Tübitak national observatory in Antalya (TRT)
As Turkey’s window opening to the space, the National Observatory has been the biggest dream of astronomers in Turkey for quite a long time. Being both a school and laboratory of astronomy since the day it was established in 1997, this centre near Antalya well equipped with two telescopes and functioning under a long term cooperation with Russia, continues to contribute significantly to world astronomy. For a small community of passionate scientific researchers based at 2.500 meters above sea level, this means harsh living conditions, especially in winter…Download Material (.zip)
The university of Uppsala and Linnaeus’ tradition (UR)
The university of Uppsala is one of the biggest universities in Sweden. A world famous researcher and writer used to live and work here: Carl von Linnaeus. He was one of the first scientists trying to name an to classify living beings. This work has been going for 250 year in Uppsala – with ups and downs, like the Institute of Racial Biology established in 1922… Today the Swedish Species Information Centre is a living example of that tradition. Aimed at investigating all multi cellular living creatures in Sweden, it has already described 2000 species. There are just 48 000 left , still to be examined and classified.
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The Children’s Hospital in Helsinki (YLE)
A long, gray stone castle in Helsinki…. That’s the Children’s Castle, which used to be ran for decades by Finland’s foremost pediatrician, professor Arvo Ylppö. The hospital focused on providing the best possible care for premature babies and Arvo Ylppö’s scientific innovations have been an important contribution to the decrease of infant mortality. The film tells the story of a place which was a turning point especially for working class mothers and of the man who changed the attitude toward preemies.
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