Today’s Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg – as already shown by its name – has two historical roots. One comes from the Saxon Prince-Elector, Frederick the Wise, who opened Leucorea University in Wittenberg in 1502, where important scholars such as the reformers Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon taught. Through their efforts, the city and its university developed into the intellectual centre of the Reformation. The other root is from the Fridericiana University, established in Halle in 1694. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the university in Halle gained an exceptional reputation as a place of research and teaching. It received its current name, “MARTIN-LUTHERUNIVERSITAET HALLE-WITTENBERG” on November 10, 1933. The Institute of Physics is part of the Faculty of Natural Sciences II (Physics and Chemistry) of Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, located in Halle (Saale), Germany. The theory group of the Institute of Physics is working in the areas “Quantum Theory of Solids”, “Theoretical Polymer Physics”, “Statistical Physics”, “Computational Physics”, and “Nonequilibrium Many- Body Systems”. Among theory group’s staff of approximately 45 scientists there are five professors and about 20 postdocs.

EU and national research projects

The theory group of the Institute of Physics at Halle University has a large experience of national and EU research projects. In the SFB 418 (special research area funded by the national science foundation) several members of the group are studying the “Structure and Dynamics of Nanoscopic Inhomogeneities in Condensed Matter”. Our newly inaugurated SFB 762 has the topic “Functionality of Oxide Material Boundaries”. The theory group also participates in the “International Max- Planck-Research-School for Science and Technology of Nanostructures“ organized together with the Max-Planck-Institute for Microstructure Physics (also located in Halle) and the “Cluster of Excellence on Nanostructured Materials“. In addition, the group was member of the EU network on “Magneto Electronics” is currently member of the EU project “DAPHNet“ (STREP), in which the dynamical properties physiological networks characterizing the interactions between sub-systems within the human body are studied.