Girls' Day/Future Day Brandenburg 2023

A group of students enters the Humboldthaus.

Girls' Day/Future Day Brandenburg on Campus Babelsberg

April 24, 2023 //

This year's Girls' Day/Future Day Brandenburg on 27 April once again offers girls an insight into occupational fields in which women have so far been underrepresented. After two years in which the event took place virtually, the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) is opening its doors to 22 schoolgirls.

The girls, aged between 11 and 16, learn about the everyday work of astrophysicists, engineers and students from AIP employees. AIP scientists talk about their careers and explain what working in science is like. Afterwards, they answer the girls’ questions. The participants will then set off in groups on an Astro(nomy) rally across the institute’s Babelsberg campus, where they will explore various research topics of the institute and solve tasks with the scientists themselves.

The event, which is limited to 22 participants in total, was fully booked after a short time.


Programme:

09:30 – 10:15:

Welcome & Introduction by Dr. Janine Fohlmeister

10:15 – 11:15:

Round of introductions & questions

11:30 – 13:00:

Astro rally on the AIP campus

13:00:

End


Introductions with AIP scientists (Dr. Iris Traulsen, Dr. Aline Dinkelaker, Sabina Bahic, Deborah Sobiella, Dr. Katja Weingrill)

How does one actually become an astrophysicist? What is a scientist's, student’s or engineer’s everyday work like? What kind of jobs are there in science? Do I want to work in the technical field or in programming? Five female scientists of the AIP introduce themselves and talk about their careers and their work at a research institute. Participants will learn about the different areas of work at the institute and can then ask the questions they have always wanted to ask.

Astro Rally (Nikoleta Ilic, Dr Katja Weingrill, Dr Tanya Urrutia, Dr Kristin Riebe, Dr Iris Traulsen)

In this rally, the participants explore the AIP campus and learn about the Sun, the electromagnetic spectrum, distances in the solar system, X-ray observation and orientation in the sky at five stations. Divided into groups, they solve small tasks with AIP scientists under a time limit before being awarded a rally certificate at the end.

Station 1: Distances in the solar system and beyond

Station 2: The variable Sun

Station 3: Spectroscopy

Station 4: Star charts

Station 5: eROSITA

The key areas of research at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) are cosmic magnetic fields and extragalactic astrophysics. A considerable part of the institute's efforts aims at the development of research technology in the fields of spectroscopy, robotic telescopes, and E-science. The AIP is the successor of the Berlin Observatory founded in 1700 and of the Astrophysical Observatory of Potsdam founded in 1874. The latter was the world's first observatory to emphasize explicitly the research area of astrophysics. The AIP has been a member of the Leibniz Association since 1992.
Last update: 4. May 2023