Greeting by the DPG President

Lutz Schröter (© DPG / Heupel 2018)
Lutz Schröter (© DPG / Heupel 2018)
Dear Conference Guests,

On behalf of the DPG, I would personally like to welcome you to the virtual DPG-Frühjahrstagung (DPG Spring Meeting) of the Physics Education Division.

I am very pleased that despite the ongoing pandemic, we are able to hold this DPG Spring meeting with an outstanding program to promote the exchange that is so important for science. This is invaluable, especially for the next generation of physicists for further scientific development and career planning.

However, our conference season this year also shows the great potential for innovation that lies dormant in the DPG. Thanks to the extraordinary commitment of our members, new and digital formats for events were developed and implemented in the Corona pandemic in a very short time. These are not only temporary alternatives, but can also help to increase the overall reach of the DPG events in the future - and thus the visibility of physics in politics and the public. This is of great importance for a society that relies heavily on the discoveries and innovations of the natural sciences and benefits from their findings, which are needed to address current and future societal challenges.

In short, we need physics as part of our culture today more urgently than ever.

For the success of this DPG meeting, I would therefore like to express my great gratitude to all those involved. My special thanks also go to the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus Foundation for their generous support of all DPG meetings. For organizing the exciting conference program, my great and special thanks go to the participating Physics Education Division represented by its Chair Prof. Johannes Grebe-Ellis (Bergische Universität Wuppertal, FB Mathematik und Naturwissenschaft). I would like to thank the staff of the DPG office for their support and supervision of all DPG spring meetings.

I wish you all an exciting conference with many new insights!

Dr. Lutz Schröter
President
Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft e. V.