update: 31 October 2025
Winter term dates 2025/26
Thursday, 4 p.m. (c.t.)
From 4 p.m., all listeners are invited to the colloquium-coffee in front of HS 2.
Location: HS 2, IG 1, Wilhelm-Klemm-Str. 10, 48149 Münster
If you would like to receive the weekly announcements by e-mail, please write to: physkoll@uni-muenster.de.
30.10.2025 Prof. Erwin Frey (Theoretische Physik, LMU München)
Emergence and Self-Organisation in Biological Systems
Einladender: Prof. Thiele (TP)Isolated systems tend to evolve towards thermal equilibrium, a special state that has been a research focus in physics for more than a century. By contrast, most processes studied in living and life-like systems are driven and far from thermal equilibrium. A fundamental overarching hallmark of all these processes is the emergence of structure, order, and information, and we are facing the major challenge of identifying the underlying physical principles. Two exciting problems are the self-organised formation of spatio-temporal patterns and the robust self-assembly of complex structures. In both fields, there have been recent advances in understanding the underlying physics that will be reviewed in this talk.06.11.2025 Dr. Stephen Hicks (Dept. of Earth Sciences, UCL)
Capturing mega-tsunamis with seismology
Einladende: Prof. Thomas (GP)Climate change is increasingly predisposing polar and alpine regions to catastrophic landslides.
In September 2023, we detected the onset of an unprecedented 9-day, global 10.88-millihertz (92-second) monochromatic very-long-period (VLP) seismic signal originating from East Greenland. This signal began with a glacial-thinning–induced rock-ice avalanche of 25 × 10⁶ m³ plunging into Dickson Fjord, triggering a 200-meter-high tsunami. Simulations show that the tsunami evolved into a 7-meter-high, long-duration seiche oscillating at 11.45 mHz, whose frequency and amplitude decay closely matched the seismic observations. An oscillating fjord-transverse single force of ~5 × 10¹¹ N reproduced both the seismic amplitudes and their radiation pattern, confirming that the seiche directly generated the 9-day-long signal.In August 2025, another landslide, this time in Alaska’s Tracy Arm fjord, produced a 481-metre high megatsunami, preceded by days of accelerating micro-seismicity. The failure generated globally observed long-period seismic waves equivalent to a magnitude-5.4 earthquake, followed by ~66-second monochromatic signals lasting over 36 hours.These events demonstrate how climate-driven glacier retreat can trigger cascading hazards - linking slope failure, fjord seiches, and globally detectable seismic waves - and highlight the growing risks posed by landslide-induced tsunamis in increasingly visited fjord environments.20.11.2025 Prof. Gernot Münster (Universität Münster)
Lucy Mensing: Forgotten Pioneer of Quantum Mechanics
Einladender: Prof. Rohlfing (FT)In 1925 a young postdoc, Lucy Mensing, came to Göttingen to do research with the new matrix mechanics, which had just been formulated. In the following years she did groundbreaking work. She successfully made the first application of the new theory to diatomic molecules. As a by-product of this work, she was the first who found that, even though in general both integer and half-integer values are allowed for angular momentum, orbital angular momentum always takes on integer values. Impressed by her clear and masterful treatment of the problem, Pauli invited her to work with him on the polarizability of gases. After that, she worked in Tübingen. In this talk I will sketch Mensing's pioneering work and give a brief account of her life. I will also discuss why she gave up her career, which ended in 1930 after she married and started a family.27.11.2025 CRC 1459 Colloquium
Vortragsankündigung | Abstact Book
From Molecular Actuation to Microscopic Motion
Prof. Svetlana Santer (University of Potsdam, Germany)
Designer Active Matter:
From Self-Propelled Particles to Active Lipid VesiclesDr. Rao Hanumantha Vatakuri (University of Twente, The Netherlands)
Einladende: Dr. Kriegel (SFB 1459)
BITTE BEACHTEN: Zeit-/Raumänderung
- 15:00 Uhr s.t.
- SoN 100.004
04.12.2025 Prof. Val Zwiller (KTH Sweden, Stockholm)
Vortragsankündigung [PDF]
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Einladender: Prof. Schuck (Dept. for Quantum Technology)11.12.2025 N.N.
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18.12.2025 Prof. Christian Kautz (TU Hamburg, Didaktik Ingenieurwiss.)
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Einladende: Prof. Heinicke (DP)08.01.2026 N.N.
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15.01.2026 Prof. Gregor Koblmüller (Inst. für Festkörperphysik, TU Berlin)
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Einladender: Prof. Krenner (PI)22.01.2026 N.N.
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29.01.2026 N.N.
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05.02.2026 N.N.
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