Florian Goebel
Encyclopedia
Florian Goebel was a German
astrophysicist attached to the Max Planck Institute for Physics
in Munich
. He had also been a member of DESY
, a German-based research center that develops and runs several particle accelerators and detectors
, most notably the ZEUS
project.
At the time of his death he was managing the MAGIC II telescope project, the companion to the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov)
telescope situated 85 metres from its counterpart at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
on La Palma
, one of the Canary Islands
. Goebel died after falling from a height of about ten metres as he was working on the camera of the telescope. He was aged 35. His death led to the suspension of the official inauguration date for MAGIC II, originally set for 19 September 2008.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
astrophysicist attached to the Max Planck Institute for Physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics
Max Planck Institute for Physics is a physics institute in Munich, Germany that specializes in High Energy Physics and Astroparticle physics. It is part of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft and is also known as the Werner Heisenberg Institute, after its first director.It was founded as the Kaiser Wilhelm...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. He had also been a member of DESY
DESY
The DESY is the biggest German research center for particle physics, with sites in Hamburg and Zeuthen....
, a German-based research center that develops and runs several particle accelerators and detectors
Particle detector
In experimental and applied particle physics, nuclear physics, and nuclear engineering, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify high-energy particles, such as those produced by nuclear decay, cosmic radiation, or reactions in a...
, most notably the ZEUS
Zeus (particle detector)
ZEUS was a particle detector that operated on the HERA particle accelerator at DESY, Hamburg. It began running together with HERA in 1992 and was functional until HERA was decommissioned in June 2007...
project.
At the time of his death he was managing the MAGIC II telescope project, the companion to the MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov)
MAGIC (telescope)
MAGIC is a system of two Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes situated at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, at about 2200 m above sea level...
telescope situated 85 metres from its counterpart at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in the municipality of Garafía on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands...
on La Palma
La Palma
La Palma is the most north-westerly of the Canary Islands. La Palma has an area of 706 km2 making it the fifth largest of the seven main Canary Islands...
, one of the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
. Goebel died after falling from a height of about ten metres as he was working on the camera of the telescope. He was aged 35. His death led to the suspension of the official inauguration date for MAGIC II, originally set for 19 September 2008.