Scientific Ambassador Prof. Reinhard Hüttl

Audio Version

Prof. Reinhard Hüttl interviewed by Thomas Prinzler | rbb, Inforadio

When you came to Brandenburg from Hawaii in 1992: How did that feel like? Hawaii and Brandenburg – it's like day and night, isn't it?

Yes, it's like day and night, and I did not expect things to go the way they did when I had been making plans for my life. But when I was invited to participate in the development of the scientific landscape in Brandenburg, to help shape it, I was confronted with an extraordinary task. The first point on my agenda was the restoration of landscapes that had been damaged by opencast lignite mining. I was very happy to take on this task, because I could draw on my experience, e.g. from Hawaii. Even though over there it was about new territories created by volcanic activity, in the end it was also about the creation of ecosystems and landscapes from scratch. In Hawaii I dealt with volcanism and here in Brandenburg I am dealing with the impact of the opencast mining in the Lower Lusatia lignite mining field (“Niederlausitzer Braunkohlerevier”) on the landscape and its restoration. In the beginning I had not assumed that I would stay here, but then the tasks turned out to be so interesting, the overall conditions so good, that, in the end, I stayed in the region to this day.

A Helmholtz Centre is per se a centre of excellence; in some way it is the German Research Centre for Geosciences of Earth system research. The spectrum of topics it encompasses the restoration of opencast lignite mining fields, volcanic and seismic research, the tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean, CCS technologies and issues regarding the energy revolution. What are the necessary conditions for successfully tackling the energy revolution in Germany?

Thanks to its preliminary work – especially in the field of renewable energies – Germany generally has the potential to successfully tackle the energy revolution. To achieve this, however, it is necessary to see this great task as a joint effort. This means that society as a whole, each and every one of us, must make a contribution. Brandenburg has been awarded the “Leading Star” as the overall “Best Federal State for Renewable Energies” twice already. Nonetheless, 40 regional or local initiatives against wind power have been launched. Besides photovoltaics, wind power stations are the central topic when it comes to renewable energies here in Brandenburg. This situation bears witness to the fact that discussions are taking place throughout the energy sector and not solely with regard to coal and nuclear energy; they concern renewable energies as well. Recently a controversial debate has also emerged even on the use of biomass. It is therefore very challenging to align all these different demands to the largest possible degree, i.e. to strike a balance between them.

There are few locations in the region with such a great history as Potsdam's Telegrafenberg – weather, climate, earth research, astrophysics – the site is named after its arguably most famous scientist, Albert Einstein. What do you think are the advantages and the disadvantages of this location?

Telegrafenberg offers the great advantage of its firm roots that have grown throughout its history. This can be said also of the German Research Centre for Geosciences and its fields of geodesy and seismic research. For example, the gravitation value that was determined here in 1909 served as a worldwide reference value for more than six decades, and the Telegrafenberg was the first place in the world where an earthquake had been documented remotely: In 1889 Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz was able to document – here in Germany – an earthquake that took place in Japan. From the perspective of the geosciences, the fields of geodesy and seismic research have their origins here at the location Telegrafenberg. And something similar can be said about the fields of astrophysics and meteorology. This gives us the opportunity to work in very close cooperation whenever it makes sense to do so, e.g. with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (abbreviated PIK) or the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (abbreviated AIP) or also Germany’s National Meteorological Service (abbreviated DWD), but in particular with the Alfred Wegener Institute, which has a permafrost research subsidiary here in Potsdam. The German Research Centre for Geosciences provides large quantities of data and many findings to these and also to other cooperating partners. The disadvantage, however, is that even though Telegrafenberg is beautiful, its spatial development is limited because of monument and nature conservation regulations. We therefore have to switch to other locations as well. For example we will soon go to Brauhausberg.

What do you personally find alluring about Telegrafenberg, what makes you stay?

Telegrafenberg is not just beautiful; it is also an internationally highly regarded scientific campus. In particular its proximity to Berlin offers ideal conditions for the fields of science, science management and, ultimately, political consulting. Universities are located here, namely the three Berlin-based universities and above all the University of Potsdam, which are also our partners in the project Geo.X (an initiative by the universities and the German Research Centre for Geosciences, which interconnects the field of geosciences and the fields of engineering, natural, social, economic and human sciences in the main research areas of natural hazards and risks, natural resources and energy resources, and human habitats and sustainability).

Thanks to joint appointments, we can train young scientists together, and we can of course also conduct joint research. This region is highly attractive to many scientists from abroad. The respective partners of the scientists find work here, there are day-care centres and schools for children, a rich cultural landscape, great leisure and sports activities are being offered and Berlin’s airports already offer very good international connections, which will certainly be further optimised in the future. These are indeed ideal framework conditions. I have been involved in the region since 1991, and I have put my heart and soul into it. That's why I do not see why I should do something else other than continue to support the state of Brandenburg – also as a scientific ambassador – and to also foster its interactions with Berlin.

How does the regional transfer of technology and knowledge and the triad, which consists of extramural institutes, universities and the business sector, work?

It works well, but there is room for improvement. This is also based on the fact that we came to realise only a few years ago that we probably had reached the worldwide largest critical mass in the field of geosciences here in the region. Due to fluctuating student numbers, the universities had initially focused on further developing the hard-hitting geoscientific subjects, such as geophysics or geodesy, and not on growth. This has since changed. We are currently developing new ways of becoming even more prominent in Europe, but also worldwide, and of exerting influence, which means, that we would for example like to direct the focus towards future topics that are important in our opinion, such as natural hazards, scarcity of resources and global change.

As a scientific ambassador you also have to be a diplomat; what would you like to tell the world about the science and technology location Brandenburg?

We have positioned ourselves extraordinarily well in Brandenburg – especially from a scientific and technological point of view. We are competitive, even if there is still some room for improvement. And as far as the affluent suburbs of Brandenburg-Berlin are concerned, we are in a phase in which even new jobs are being created in innovative companies. In order to secure this development in the long term, we have to continue to carry out good or excellent scientific research and training – this is my great vision for the future of the region. I want our major projects to be even more successful in the future than they have already been in the past.