Please note that the education and information centre at PIK known as the “weather factory” is currently closed!
The weather factory was the result of a co-operation between the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), the Potsdam Comprehensive School Peter Joseph Lenné, and the University Potsdam (Projekt PIKEE). The project set out to provide plenty of information on the topics weather and climate, primarily aimed at young visitors.
For more than a year, pupils of the 11th form from the Peter Joseph Lenné School researched the scientific topics climate and weather, and, together with PIK, they developed the exhibition concept for the weather factory. This co-operation was supported and advised by a research seminar in educational science from Potsdam University.
The concept of the weather factory was guided by the idea of “hands-on science” wherever the topic allowed this. In different exhibition rooms, visitor groups could explore models, installations, posters, and meteorological measuring instruments and thereby delve into both the present and the past of meteorology as well as current results of climate (impact) research of the Telegraphenberg.
The weather factory - a small building adjacent to the former Royal Meteorological Observatory Potsdam (MOP) - previously served as a wash-house and was declared a listed monument, not least due to its historical green roof. The MOP (now the Süring Building of PIK) was once the domain of the famous meteorologist Reinhard Süring who was the director of the institute from 1902 to 1932. His scientific merits form one of the key themes of the information centre. In 1901, it was Süring who, together with a colleague, was able to prove by a sensational balloon flight that the temperature of the atmosphere does not continue to decrease after a certain height. He thus laid the foundation for the subsequent exploration of the stratosphere.
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E-Mail: wetterkueche(at)pik-potsdam.de |
