Timeline

Introduction of the so­-called “Improved Calendar” in the Protestant states of Germany

Enactment of the calendar patent for the new Berlin Observatory

Appointment of Gottfried Kirch as director of the observatory

Foundation of the Brandenburg Society

First observatory building in Berlin, Dorotheenstraße

New Berlin Observatory
Architect: Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Berlin, Lindenstraße

Discovery of the planet Neptune by Johann Gottfried Galle

Appointment of Wilhelm Julius Foerster as director

Foundation of the “Astronomisches Rechen-Institut”

Foundation of the Astrophysical Observatory Potsdam (AOP)

Construction of the main building of the AOP on the Telegrafenberg at Potsdam

First Michelson experiment in Potsdam

Discovery of canal rays by Eugen Goldstein

Discovery of the variation of the Earth’s pole latitude by Karl Friedrich Küstner

First photographic determination of a radial velocity by Hermann Carl Vogel

Experiments at AOP to find radio emission from the Sun by Johannes Wilsing and Julius Scheiner

Completion of the Great Refractor at Potsdam

Discovery of the interstellar matter by Johannes Hartmann

Appointment of Karl Hermann Struve as director of the Berlin Observatory

Appointment of Karl Schwarzschild as director of the AOP

Construction of the observatory in Babelsberg

Relocation of the Berlin Observatory to Babelsberg

First use of photoelectric photometry by Paul Guthnick in Babelsberg

Completion of the Great Refractor in Babelsberg

Construction of Einstein Tower at the Telegrafenberg

Completion of the 120 cm reflector in Babelsberg

Sonneberg Observatory incorporated into Babelsberg Observatory

Discovery of the high temperature of the solar corona by Walter Grotrian (AOP)

Takeover of AOP and Babelsberg Observatory by the German Academy of Sciences

Commencement of radio observations in Tremsdorf

Completion of the 2 m reflector in Tautenburg

Foundation of the Central Institute of Astrophysics

Beginning of work at the Astrophysical Institute Potsdam (AIP),
Appointment of Karl-Heinz Rädler as scientific chairman

Appointment of Günther Hasinger asscientific chairman of the AIP

Appointment of Klaus G. Strassmeier as scientific chairman of the AIP

First light for the Potsdam Multi­-Aperture Spectrophotometer (PMAS) at Calar Alto Observatory

RAVE first light at the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO)

Appointment of Matthias Steinmetz asscientific chairman of AIP

“First Light” of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) in Arizona

Re-inauguration of the Great Refractor

Inauguration of STELLA on Tenerife

Renamed to “Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam (AIP)”

Inaugration of the solar telescope GREGOR on Tenerife

MUSE “First Light” at Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile

PEPSI “First Light” at LBT

Start of the Hobby­-Eberly­-Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX)

Launch of the eROSITA X-ray telescope

Launch of the ESA mission Solar Orbiter

Reopening of the Einstein Tower after extensive refurbishments