RESEARCH & SCIENCE

JOURNAL OF UNSOLVED QUESTIONS

Failures fuel science

Leonie Mück and Thomas Jagau found they were meeting a previously unexpected need when they started their "Journal of Unsolved Questions" in 2011. The two doctoral candidates at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) were surprised by the positive response that their journal elicited from all sides. Even though the interest in the publication is still considerable, the future of their "Journal of Unsolved Questions" remains uncertain.

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(photo: Stefan F. Sämmer)GENIZA PROJECT WEISENAU

A treasure chest of everyday Jewish life in the 18th century

The geniza of the old synagogue in Weisenau provides an in-depth look at the culture and everyday life of this old Jewish community. Professor Dr. Andreas Lehnardt of the Faculty of Protestant Theology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has spent the last two and a half years carefully combing through this legacy from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the process, some very unique items have been discovered.

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HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

The landscape of surnames

As Professor of Historical Linguistics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), Damaris Nübling's special interest is the development of the German language from its first documented form as Old High German, dating to around 800 AD, to contemporary German. Her current projects are witness to the fact that historical linguistics is actually anything but a drab and dry-as-dust discipline. Currently she is investigating the morphology of surnames in Germany.

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PARTICLE PHYSICS

Higgs boson electrifies Mainz physicists

Matthias Neubert and his team are elated since scientists at Geneva's CERN research center found the first indications of the existence of the Higgs boson. This is the last building block missing from the standard model of physics. The head of the Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics unit at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) now expects his area of research to take off.

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