A brief history of the EP1

It had been absent for a long time, but now it is back: the Chair of Experimental Physics I at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg. This chair had been vacant for almost 20 years. It is worth taking a brief look back at the history books.

The Chair of Experimental Physics – which at that time did not yet have a number – was filled in 1946 by the physicist Helmuth Kulenkampff. In keeping with Würzburg tradition, Kulenkampff devoted himself intensively to research into X-rays, which had been discovered in Würzburg.

His successor was his student Max Scheer, who continued the research into X-rays but was also heavily involved in university administration and served twice as Vice-Chancellor of the university. He held the chair from 1964 to 1994.

In 1994, Gustav Gerber became Professor of Experimental Physics at the University of Würzburg and held the Chair of Experimental Physics I at the Institute of Physics until 2007. He was one of the pioneers in Europe to apply femtosecond spectroscopy to molecules. After almost 20 years, the chair will now be filled at the end of 2025 by Sebastian Klembt, who conducts research in the fields of quantum optics and light-matter interactions.