Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe

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Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe [in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft] (literally: Karlsruhe Research Centre [within the Helmholtz Association]) is a research institution based in Karlsruhe/BW, Germany. Its main campus is located in Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen/BW, Germany, 12 km north of the Karlsruhe city centre.

It has currently (2005) approximately 3800 employees and an annual budget of approximately 294 million EUR, making it one of the biggest science and engineering research institutions in Germany and Europe. It cooperates and shares some departments with the University of Karlsruhe.

The Forschungszentrum is a GmbH funded jointly by the Federal Republic of Germany (90 %) and the State of Baden-Württemberg (10 %). Its research and development program is embedded in the superordinate program structure of the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers and concentrates on the five research areas Structure of Matter, Earth and Environment, Health, Energy, and Key Technologies. One of the installations is the synchrotron light source ANKA, accessible also for commercial purposes.

The Forschungszentrum was founded in 1956 as Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (KfK) (Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Centre). Initial activities concentrated around the Forschungsreaktor 2 (FR2), the first nuclear reactor built by Germany. With the decline of nuclear energy activities in Germany, Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe directed its work increasingly towards alternative areas of basic and applied sciences. This change is reflected in the change of name from Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe to Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe with the subheading Technik und Umwelt (technology and environment) in 1995. This subheading was replaced by in der Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft in 2002.

The Forschungszentrum is the site of the main German national nuclear engineering research centre and the Institute for Transuranium Elements. Also present on the site is a nanotechnology research centre.

There is further a 200 metre tall guyed mast for meteorological measurements at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe [1].