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Family album of the FRM II

  • 4 June 2003 — Bavarian Prime Minister (4th from left) gives the go-ahead for the first criticality of FRM II on March 2, 2004.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 5 June 2003 — Structural powder diffractometer SPODI (l.) and triple-axis spectrometer PUMA (r.) in the set-up phase of the Experimental Hall.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 06 October 2010 - Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano (3rd from right), during his official visit at FRM II on his first trip to Europe
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 16 July 2014 — NEutron induced POsitron source MUniCh: NEPOMUC.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 24 July 2014 — New "dance floor" for the instrument KOMPASS (KOeln-Münchner auf Polarisations Analyse Spezialisiertes Spektrometer) in the Neutron Guide Hall West.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 8 September 2014 — Office and laboratory building from the early years of the research reactor FRM (1950s) were taken down in 2014 to be replaced by new buildings (completed in 2020).
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 14 September 2016 — Students of the JCNS laboratory course in the Neutron Guide Hall West.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 16 February 2017 — The instrument NEPOMUC (NEutron induced POsitron source MUniCh) offers measurement capabilities with positrons, the antiparticles of electrons.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 13 September 2017 — Experiments with cryomagnets are a key capability of the cold triple-axis spectrometer PANDA: measuring low-energy magnetic excitations.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 10 November 2017 - Preparation of the beam tube plug exchange in the experiment hall
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 06 June 2018 — The multi-analyzer system at PUMA (Triple-axis spectrometer with polarization analysis and multi analyzer detector).
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 11 September 2018 — Preparation for sample change on the sample rod cryostat.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 27 November 2018 — Position check of the 22-meter-long and 1.4-meter-diameter tube of the instrument KWS-2.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

  • 29 August 2019 — Scientists for a day: Children from the community of Neubiberg taking part in the holiday program "Aktionstag" at FRM II.
    © Wenzel Schürmann / TU München

The photos can now be seen in the foyer of the new twin buildings UYW of the Technical University of Munich on the FRM II site.

The photos can now be seen in the foyer of the new twin buildings UYW of the Technical University of Munich on the FRM II site.

For more than 19 years, Wenzel Schürmann photographed the eventful history of FRM II and the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Centre (MLZ) in many thousands of pictures. Now a best-of of the photographer’s work can be seen in the exhibition “Impressions of FRM II and its partners at the MLZ” on the site of the research neutron source in Garching. We present an exclusive insight here.

It’s a bit like flipping through a family album: the same people and places, changing over almost two decades. Here you see the inside of the atomic egg (FRM) and there photos from the first days of the research neutron source FRM II, curious glances of politicians into the reactor pool, eventually the experimental and neutron guide halls full of scientific instruments with scientists and students in white lab coats, first remodeling in the experimental hall and new scientific instruments in the neutron guide hall east.

In the course of his three decades at the Technical University of Munich (1991 – 2021), Wenzel Schürmann repeatedly took photos at FRM II. In the process, he captured very special historical moments, such as the visit of Bavarian Prime Minister Edmund Stoiber in 2002, the founding of the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Centre or the demolition of the low-rise buildings from the 1950s in front of the atomic egg.

The three directors of FRM II opened the photo exhibition on 16 December together with Wenzel Schürmann (r.): Dr. Axel Pichlmaier, Prof. Dr. Peter Müller-Buschbaum und Robert Rieck (v.l.).

The three directors of FRM II opened the photo exhibition on 16 December together with Wenzel Schürmann (r.): Dr. Axel Pichlmaier, Prof. Dr. Peter Müller-Buschbaum und Robert Rieck (v.l.).

Exhibition shows joy and passion of the staff
In addition to all the important visitors and politicians who have visited FRM II over the years, Wenzel Schürmann had above all a keen eye for the scientists, engineers and technicians at FRM II and the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Centre. He captured them with his lens: The proud pose of the post-doctoral student next to his sparkling-new powder diffractometer, the student watching the nitrogen vapour from the cryostat with fascination, or the scientist wielding the spanner at the world’s most powerful positron source like a conductor’s baton.

So the tenor of the exhibition is “to show daily life at the neutron source” and also “the dedication, joy and passion of the people who work and research at FRM II”, says Dr Diana Fleischer, office of the Scientific Director Prof. Dr. Peter Müller-Buschbaum. “In every picture we see the photographer’s enthusiasm for the people.”

Wenzel Schürmann himself says: “It was always interesting at FRM II. I could sense that there are not employees working here who just show up for duty and do their jobs until the time is up, but that the people here are very enthusiastic about what they do. I liked being able to take pictures that also show this commitment of the people working here. When I take photos, I want something to be conveyed. The working atmosphere at FRM II contributed to that.

Andrea Voit

Press and public relations FRM II

MLZ is a cooperation between:

Technische Universität München> Technische Universität MünchenHelmholtz-Zentrum Hereon> Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon
Forschungszentrum Jülich> Forschungszentrum Jülich

MLZ is a member of:

LENS> LENSERF-AISBL> ERF-AISBL

MLZ on social media: