Physics Collection

The Physics Institute emerged from the “physical cabinet” which had been located at Hohentübingen Castle since 1851. In 1885, the institute moved to a separate building in Gmelinstraße; today it is located on Morgenstelle. Since its beginnings, the physics department has had a collection of devices. Today, it also includes historical apparatus, such as measuring instruments, polarization apparatus, and diffraction gratings. Among them is an electrostatic potential multiplier after Albert Einstein (1879–1955) from 1910, which was acquired by the then director of the institute Fritz Paschen (1865–1947) around 1920. In addition, there is an exchange of letters between the jurist and Old Germanist Felix Genzmer (1878–1959) and Albert Einstein, as well as a curious tin cat with an attached miniature bicycle. This “sociale object” was used in a student exam ritual and played a role in the “integration of expert teams” until the early 1980s.