Forschungszentrum Julich (Jülich Research Centre) is one of the largest research centres in Europe. It is located in the town of Jülich, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Forschungszentrum Julich employs about 5,200 people, of whom around 3,000 are scientists and engineers from over 60 nations. The centre has an annual budget of around €1 billion. Forschungszentrum Julich conducts research in a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines. Its main focus is on energy and environment, health and information technology.
Forschungszentrum Julich was founded in 1956 as a nuclear research centre by the German federal government. It was originally known as Kernforschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich Nuclear Research Centre). In 1991, it was renamed Forschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich Research Centre) to reflect its widening field of activities beyond nuclear research. Forschungszentrum Julich is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, which comprises 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centres with a total workforce of about 37,000 people.
The origins of Forschungszentrum Julich date back to 1953 when the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (Society for Heavy Ion Research) was founded in Cologne with the aim of building a heavy ion accelerator for basic physics research. In 1955, construction work began on what would become Germany’s first synchrotron radiation source – the Electron Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg – which went into operation three years later. Also in 1955, negotiations began between representatives of industry and academia with a view to establishing a similar facility near Cologne; however, these talks foundered due to disagreements over who should control such a facility. As an alternative site, Jülich was suggested and subsequently approved by the federal government in 1956. The new institute was named Kernforschungszentrum Jülich (Jülich Nuclear Research Centre) and officially opened its doors on 1 October 1956 with just under 100 employees working on two sites covering an area totalling some four square kilometres