Post by DESY

“If you want to do only applied research, guess what? You'll run out of ideas. And if you do only fundamental research, that's cool, but then somebody else will take your ideas and turn them in to great products. It is really good that you have an eye on both sides here at DESY.” That's one of the key takeaways from Martin Keller on his trip to DESY. This week we had the pleasure of hosting Keller, the President of the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft / Helmholtz Association, and he had a seven-hour-long grand tour of the Hamburg campus. During his tour, Keller visited our synchrotron light source PETRA III and our free-electron laser FLASH, where DESY scientists explained the use of intense X-ray light for the analysis of new materials and high-tech applications. He then toured our laser-plasma laboratory, where the KALDERA team showed him how the injection of electrons into accelerators could soon be revolutionized: through a brand-new technology that could already be used in our planned next-generation light source PETRA IV. On the site of our campus partner Centre for Structural Systems Biology CSSB, the Helmholtz president was introduced to our interdisciplinary research platforms, and he also caught a glimpse of how X-ray light is used at DESY for cutting edge research in the big questions of biotechnology. At our detector assembly facility, we presented Keller our major contributions to the upgrades at the CERN LHC experiments ATLAS and CMS – adding the field of particle physics to the campus tour. The president also took time to meet the staff of our machine shop and our special workshop for apprentices. And over lunch he listened to the thoughts and comments specifically of young researchers – an agenda item that has been close to his heart during visits to the various Helmholtz institutions on his centre tours since he became president in Fall 2025. And after all that, he still had the energy to answer a few questions and tell us some of his impressions—about DESY; about science in Germany, Europe, and the USA; about the importance of both fundamental and applied research; and the importance of having pride in the science we can do. And more. Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eRRaECe8