A brief history of EP1

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

The Chair of Experimental Physics — which at the time did not yet have a number — was filled in 1946 by the physicist Helmuth Kulenkampff. Following Würzburg’s tradition, Kulenkampff devoted himself intensively to the study of X-rays, which had been discovered in Würzburg.

His successor was his student Max Scheer, who continued to conduct research on X-rays but also became deeply involved in university administration and served twice as rector of the university. He held the chair from 1964 to 1994.

In 1994, Gustav Gerber became a 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 among the pioneers in Europe who applied femtosecond spectroscopy to molecules. After nearly 20 years, the chair was now filled in late 2025 by Sebastian Klembt, who conducts research in the fields of quantum optics and light-matter interactions.