Berlin Natural History Museum
(+49) 30 2093 8591 (+49) 30 2093 8544
Prof. Dr. Johannes Vogel The Directorate, Leadership of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin as its Director General. Representation in national and international fora Phone +49 (30)2093 8544 Fax +49 (30)2093 8561 E-Mail: generaldirektor@mfn-berlin.de Primary research field - Role of museums in science and society - Public engagement with science - National and international science policy - Biodiversity - Plant evolutionary biology
Dr. Christoph Häuser The Directorate, Office for Project Coordination, International Cooperation and Science Policy Phone +49 (30)2093 8479; mobile: +49-152-2258 8534 Fax +49 (30)2093 8561 E-Mail christoph.haeuser@mfn-berlin.de Primary research field Dr. Christoph Häuser is leading the Office for International Cooperation and Project Coordination at the MfN Directorate. His research interests focus on applications of information technology to taxonomy and biodiversity documentation and assessment. He has been engaged for more than 10 years with biodiversity informatics initiatives, both at the scientific and at the science-policy level, e.g., EU BON, GBIF, the Catalogue of Life (CoL), the Global Butterfly Information System (GloBIS), and the standing call for establishing a Global Species Information System (GSIS).
Dr. Christiane Quaisser Head of Department of Collections Head of Science Program Collection Development Phone +49 (0)30 2093 8377 Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8561 E-Mail christiane.quaisser@mfn-berlin.de CETAF working group: Collection Policy Board (CPB)
Dr. Gregor Hagedorn Head of Digital World at Museum für Naturkunde Phone +49 (0)30 2093 8576 Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8561 E-Mail gregor.hagedorn@mfn-berlin.de CETAF working group: Information Science & Technology Commission (ISTC)
Dr. Peter Giere Curator of the Embryological Collection Phone +49 (0)30 2093 8703 Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8528 E-Mail peter.giere@mfn-berlin.de CETAF working group: Legislations and Regulations Liaison Group/ABS working group
Magdalena Müller Head of Office for External Funding Phone +49 (0)30 2093 8944 Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8323 E-Mail magdalena.mueller@mfn-berlin.de CETAF working group: European Initiatives Advisory Group
Carla Pinho Staff member of Office for External Funding Phone +49 (0)30 2093 8420 Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8323 E-Mail carla.pinho@mfn-berlin.de CETAF working group: European Initiatives Advisory Group
Dr. Anke Hoffmann Scientific coordinator for the EU BON project (http://www.eubon.eu) Phone +49 (0)30 2093 8950 Fax +49 (0)30 2093 8561 E-Mail anke.hoffmann@mfn-berlin.de CETAF working group: European Initiatives Advisory Group
Prof. Johannes Vogel, PhD
The museum is currently divided into the following Departments:
- Directorate General, including Administration
- The Department for Collections
- The Department for Research Infrastructure
- The Department for Exhibitions and Public Education
Research is organised in temporary cross-cutting Science Programs ("Forschungsbereiche"), which currently include the following:
- Discovery of Biodiversity
- Genome - Organism - Environment
- Diversity Dynamics
- Impact, Meteorites and Geological Processes
- Collection Development
- Science Communication and History of Science
The number of Science Programs and topics are flexible and depend on the academic focus of the Museum at any given time. Future structure of the Museum ( future organisation chart MfN) The Museum is about to change its structure. If the Board of Trustees agrees during its meeting on 11 November 2013 on the new structure, the four Departments and the temporary Science Programs will be replaced by four Science Programs. The Museum will then comprise:
- Directorate General (Directorate and Administration)
- Science Program ‘Evolution and geoprocesses’
- Science Program ‘Collections development and biodiversity discovery’
- Science Program ‘Digital world and information science’
- Science Program ‘Public engagement with science’
The Museum für Naturkunde is an independent trust under public law governed by:
- a Board of Trustees (Stiftungsrat)
- an appointed Director General
- a Scientific Advisory Board The Board of Trustees supervises the scientific, programmatic, and economic affairs of the museum.
It has three born members, one each representing the Senate of Berlin and the Federal Government, as the main funding organizations, and the president of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. In addition, it comprises up to eight public figures elected by the Senate of Berlin and the Federal Government for a period of four years. The representative from the Senate of Berlin is the chair. The Scientific Advisory Board advises the Director General and the Board of Trustees on scientific and programmatic questions. It comprises up to seven members. They are internationally recognised scientists from Germany or abroad, whose scientific expertise matches the scientific disciplines of the museum. Ideally, they also have work experience in museums. The Director General is the Head of the Museum. He is supported by a Managing Director.
| Permanent (P) | Non – Permanent (NP) | |
|---|---|---|
| a) TOTAL scientific staff | 33 | 16 |
| b) Scientific staff linked to Collections | 17 | 4 |
| c) Post-docs / PhD students | 0 | 27 |
| d) Others (Associates, etc.) | 0 | 0 |
| TOTAL (a+b+c+d) | 50 | 47 |
| Permanent (P) | Non – Permanent (NP) | |
|---|---|---|
| e) Exhibitions | 15 | 3 |
| f) Collection managers / technicians | 36 | 1 |
| g) Others | 52 | 47 |
| TOTAL (e+f+g) | 103 | 51 |
- Scanning electron microscope EVO LS 10 SEM; Variable pressure SEM with full digital documentation system, installed in 2009.
- Transmission electron microscope LEO 906 TEM; 60-120 kV, with high resolution digital camera and conventional photography on negative film, purchased and installed in 2011.
- Electron microprobe JEOL JXA-8500F with field emission cathode and five wavelength-dispersive and one energy-dispersive spectrometer for microanalysis from boron to uranium. Installed in 2007
- Scanning electron microscope JEOL JSM-6610LV with LaB6 cathode und Bruker AXS Quantax 800 EDX system, low vacuum option, Cathodoluminescence detector (b/w), Bruker Quantax CrystAlign 400 EBSD System, installed in 2009
- Stable isotope lab with DELTA V Advantage mass spectrometer equipped with a GASBench II for carbonate samples and integrated auto sampler A200S. In addition 2 Thermo Flash EA 1112 element analyzers are attached via a Finnigan ConFlo III 2 continuous sample supply. Installed in 2007
- Molecular analysis: DNA Laboratory including a Perkin-Elmer Thermocycler and an ABI PrismTM377 Sequencer, both installed in 2007.
- High-resolution X-ray computer tomograph (µCT) Phoenix GE Nanotom
- X-ray facility for non-invasive studies of skeletal morphology
- Handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (Bruker TRACER IV SD) for non-distructive in situ major and trace element analysis of minerals, rocks, fossils and other objects. Spot size of approximately 5mm. Installed in 2011.
- X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (Bruker AXS S8 Tiger) with automatic sample charger, used for anorganic quantitative major and trace element analysis on mineral and rock samples. Installed in 2008
- Cathode luminescence microscope HC3-LM, running with a hot cathode. Installed in 2002
- Raman microscope spectrometer DILOR LabRAM with 3 integrated He-Ne-Laser, equipped with an xy scanning stage, installed in 2012
- Confocal laser scanning microscope Leica TCS-SPE
- Computer Cluster for parallel and serial scientific computing in geo- and bioinformatics with 400 cores and 2.4 TB memory in total
- Bioacoustic laboratory. Laservibrometer Polytec PDV-100
- 3D visualisation laboratory. 2 AMIRA computer stations.
- Extensive facilities for light microscopy with digital photography; various LEITZ and ZEISS research light microscopes with Nomarsky contrast, fluorescence, phase contrast, polarization, mostly with digital documentation systems, installed from 1993 onwards.
- Extensive facilities for preparation and investigation of animals, fossil, rocks, minerals, and histological material, including micropaleontology, thin sections, bulk sample maceration, and handling of HF methods .
Zoosystematics and Evolution: ISSN: 1435-1935 (print), 1860-0743 (online) https://zse.pensoft.net/
Fossil Record: ISSN: 1435-1943, 1860-1014 (online) https://www.fossil-record.net/
Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift: ISSN: 1435-1951 (print), 1860-1324 (online) https://dez.pensoft.net/
| Typology | Primary types | Individual specimens/objects | % registered cards | % recorded cards in database | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Palaeontology | 30,985 | 2976981 | n/a | 8.21 |
| 1.2 | Mineralogy | 650 | 337500 | n/a | 53.7 |
| Typology | Primary types | Individual specimens/objects | % registered cards | % recorded cards in database | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1 | Zoology | 82,538 | 22889008 | n/a | 2.07 |
| 2.2 | Molecular and tissue samples | 28500 | n/a | 18.75 | |
| 3.2 | Animal Sound Archive | n/a | 120000 | 120,000 | 21.47 |
Originating from collections that predate the Museum für Naturkunde, its vast and varied collections contain historic and scientific treasures such as specimens collected by Alexander von Humboldt or the Berlin specimen of Archaeopteryx.
No
- Type(s) of objects: rare books, books, journals, maps and single sheet material, reprints
- No. of objects (of each type) rare books: 1,289 books: 50,965 journals: 105,000 maps and single sheet material: 12,890 reprints: 200,000
Historical collection: 110,000 specimens (historical documents – 90,000; historical portraits – 20,000); 9,46% in digital databases, 90,300 records on paper files
not regularly
Events (e.g. Long Nights of Science, Long Museum Nights, Science Slam, Lectures, Concerts, Theatre Performances) Marketing cooperation Press and public relations Internal, external, online communication
Every 4 months: event- and education programm flyer: https://www.naturkundemuseum.berlin/de/museum/besucherinformationen
Dr. Gesine Steiner, +49 (0)30 2093-8917, gesine.steiner@mfn-berlin.de
Past: nearly a half million every year since 2007 Future: because of reconstruction work 400 000 per year
e.g. cooperation with schools, nursery schools, adult education centres, the learning laboratories network GenaU (www.genau-bb.de), Museumspark Rüdersdorf (www.museumspark.de), Deutsches Technikmuseum (www.sdtb.de), Jugend im Museum (http://www.jugend-im-museum.de - training courses for pre-school teachers
- In cooperation with the Institute of Biology at Humboldt-Universität: courses for bachelor students, e.g. Zoologische Bestimmungsübungen (for B.Sc. students); several modules in M.Sc. programme “Organismic biology and Evolution”; for further information see www.biologie.hu-berlin.de/studenten/lehre/master-biologie-biophysik
- Courses for teachers and students in cooperation with the Biology Teaching department at Humboldt Universität (www2.hu-berlin.de/biologie/biodidaktik) and the Institute of Advanced Sustainability Studies (www.iass-potsdam.de)
- joint supervision of education research projects in cooperation with the Department of Museum Management and Communication at the HTW Berlin
- In cooperation with Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Freie Universität Berlin geological and planetological topics are taught by geoscientific staff of the Museum für Naturkunde. This course offers are also open to graduate and postgraduate students from other national and international universities.
- Zoological, paleontological, and geoscientific staff of the Museum are supervising BSc, MSc and PhD candidates registered with any of the four Berlin-Potsdam universities.
- Regularly, staff of the Museum are taking their expertise to other national and international universities and present lectures or short courses.
guided tours, school programmes, workshops for children and adults, microscopy courses, city nature excursions, children’s birthday parties, torch light tours, evening events, science tours for adults, teacher trainings
Visitor service: Phone: +49 (0) 30 2093-8550, E-mail: besucherservice(at)mfn-berlin.de