Development History of the Faculty of Geosciences

in tabular form

Organization and Infrastructure Development

  • June 1981: Committment of Bremen State towards Ministry of Research and Technology to establish a Geoscience Faculty
  • Oct. 1982: Publication of a "Geosciences" planning concept by the University of Bremen
  • Apr. 1986: Foundation of the Faculty 05 Geosciences by the Academic Senate of the University of Bremen
  • June 1986: Constitutional meeting of the faculty council and election of first speaker (Gerold Wefer)
  • Nov. 1986: Laying of the foundation stone and subsequent erection of the GEO1 building (until early 1989)
  • Oct. 1991: Laying of the foundation stone and subsequent erection of the GEO2 building (until early 1994)
  • Aug. 1993: Decision for Bremen ODP/IODP Core Repository, first at Europahafen, since 2005 in MARUM building
  • Aug. 1994: Transfer of the Geosciences Collection of the Overseas Museum in Bremen to our faculty
  • Apr. 2005: Completion of MARUM building with technical hangar, IODP and GeoB core repositories, lab and office rooms
  • Nov. 2012: MARUM obtains the status of an independent research faculty of the University of Bremen
Brochure on the History of the Faculty of Geosciences

Establishment and Appointment of Research Groups

  • 1985: Ulrich Bleil (Geophysics with focus in Marine Geophysics, until 2005), Gerold Wefer (General Geology with focus in Marine Geology, from 2009 until 2020 Research Professorship for Marine Geology)
  • 1986: Horst D. Schulz (Geochemistry and Hydrogeology, until 2007), Franz Fürsich (Geology - Paleontology, until 1988), Olaf Brockamp (Mineralogy/Petrography, until 2008)
  • 1988: Martin Olesch (Geology of Polar Regions, until 2007)
  • 1989: Helmut Willems (Historical Geology - Paleontology, until 2017)
  • 1991: Jochen Kuss (Geochronology - Basin Analysis, until 2018)
  • 1992: Heinrich Villinger (Marine Technology - Sensors, until 2016), Klaus Herterich (Paleoceanograptic Modelling, until 2002)
  • 1993: Rüdiger Henrich (Sedimentology – Palaeoceano­graphy, until 2020)
  • 1994: Volkhard Spiess (Marine Technology – Environmental Research, until 2025)
  • 1995: Reinhard X. Fischer (Crystallography, until 2021)
  • 1998: Colin Devey (Petrology of the Ocean Crust, until 2004)
  • 2002: Tilo von Dobeneck (Marine Geophysics, until 2024), Jörn Peckmann (Geobiology, until 2010), Rebecca Rendle-Bühring (Paleozeanography - Carbonate Geology, until 2010), Michael Schulz (Geosystem Modelling), Gerhard Bohrmann (General Geology – Marine Geology, until 2025), Kai-Uwe Hinrichs (Organic Geochemistry), Katrin Huhn-Frehers (Modelling of Sedimentation Processes)
  • 2003: Achim Kopf (Geotechnics), Tobias Mörz (Marine Engineering Geology, until 2024)
  • 2005: Wolfgang Bach (Petrology of the Ocean Crust)
  • 2007: Professor Spiegel-Behnke (Geodynamics of the Polar Regions)
  • 2008: Thomas Pichler (Geochemistry and Hydrogeology)
  • 2009: Simone Kasemann (Isotope Geochemistry)
  • 2012: Michal Kucera (Micropale­ontology - Paleoceano­graphy), Heiko Pälike (Paleoceano­graphy), Andreas Lüttge (Mineralogy, until 2024)
  • 2015: Marta Pérez Gussinyé (Geophysics - Geodynamics)
  • 2019: Elda Miramontes Garcia (Sedimentology)
  • 2021: Ella Schmidt (Crystallography and Geomaterials)
  • 2024: Sebastian Uhlemann (Environmental Geophysics)

Evolution of the Study Programs

  • WS 1986/87: Establishment and start of diploma program "Geology - Paleontology"
  • WS 1991/92: Establishment and start of diploma program "Geophysics"
  • WS 1992/94: Establishment and start of diploma program "Mineralogy"
  • WS 2000/01: Implementation of Bologna Treaty by establishment of integrated bachelor program "Geosciences"
  • WS 2003/04: Establishment and start of the international master program "Environmental and Marine Geosciences" (EMaG)
  • WS 2005/06: Start of the master programs "Geosciences", "Marine Geosciences" and "Material and Mineral Sciences"
  • WS 2006/07: Accreditation of all four geoscientific study programs with reform of bachelor program "Geosciences"
  • WS 2012/13: Reform and successful reaccreditation of all four geoscientific bachelor and master programs, "Materials Chemistry and Mineralogy" goes international
  • WS 2021/22: After reform and accreditation in 2020, all geoscientific degree programs start anew: two bachelor programs "Geosciences" and "Marine Geosciences" and three master programs "Applied Geosciences", "Marine Geosciences" and "Materials Chemistry and Mineralogy"

Deans

  • Jun. 1986 - Jan. 1992: Gerold Wefer (Dean)
  • Feb. 1992 - Jul. 1994: Horst D. Schulz (Dean)
  • Jul. 1994 - May 1996: Helmut Willems (Dean)
  • Jun. 1996 - Sep. 1998: Olaf Brockamp (Dean)
  • Oct. 1998 - Aug. 2000: Henrich Villinger (Dean)
  • Sep. 2000 - Jul. 2001:Martin Olesch (Dean), Reinhard X Fischer (Dean of Studies)
  • Jul. 2001 - Dec. 2003: Colin Devey (Dean), Reinhard X Fischer(Dean of Studies until Sep. 2002), Joachim Kuss (Dean of Studies from Sept. 2002)
  • Dec. 2003 - Sep. 2005: Rüdiger Henrich (Dean), Joachim Kuss (Dean of Studies)
  • Sep. 2005 - Nov. 2007: Michael Schulz (Dekan), Tilo von Dobeneck (Dean of Studies)
  • Oct. 2007 - Sep. 2009: Gerhard Bohrmann (Dean), Tilo von Dobeneck (Dean of Studies until Sep. 2008), Wolfgang Bach (Dean of Studies from Oct. 2008)
  • Oct. 2009 - Sep. 2011: Gerhard Bohrmann (Dean), Wolfgang Bach (Dean of Studies until Sep. 2010), Cornelia Spiegel (Dean of Studies from Oct. 2010)
  • Okt. 2011 - Sep. 2013: Kai-Uwe Hinrichs (Dean), Simone Kasemann (Dean of Studies)
  • Oct. 2013 - Sep. 2015: Achim Kopf (Dean), Torsten Bickert (Dean of Studies from Jan. 2014)
  • Oct. 2019 - Sep. 2021: Michal Kucera (Dean), Torsten Bickert (Dean of Studies)
  • Oct. 2019 - Sep. 2021: Wolfgang Bach (Dean), Cornelia Spiegel-Behnke (Dean of Studies), Michal Kucera (Vice Dean until Sep. 2020), Simone Kasemann (Vice Dean from Oct. 2021), Torsten Bickert (Vice Dean of Studies until Sep. 2020), Heiko Pälike (Vice Dean of Studies from Oct. 2020)
  • Oct. 2021 - Sep. 2023: Simone Kasemann (Dean), Heiko Pälike (Dean of Studies), Wolfgang Bach (Vice Dean until Sep. 2023), Cornelia Spiegel-Behnke (Vice Dean of Studies until Sep. 2022), Katrin Huhn-Frehers (Vice Dean of Studies from Oct. 2022)
  • Oct. 2023 - Sep. 2025: Simone Kasemann (Dean), Katrin Huhn-Frehers (Dean of Studies), Wolfgang Bach (Vice Dean until Sep. 2024), Heiko Pälike (Vice Dean of Studies unit Sep. 2024), Thomas Pichler (Vice Dean from Oct. 2024)

Third-party funded Research and Graduate Programs

  • July 1989 - Dec. 2001: DFG SFB 261 "The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary - Reconstruction of material budgets and current systems"
  • Oct. 1990 – Jan. 2000: DFG Graduate College 221 "Material Cycles in marine Geosystems"
  • July 2001 - Oct. 2017: DFG Research Center 15 "Ocean Margins" (RCOM), since Nov. 2012 homonym with EXC 309
  • Jan. 2002 - Dec. 2010: Intern. DFG Research Training Group 717 "EUROPROX - Proxies in Earth History" with FU Amsterdam and U Utrecht
  • Nov. 2006 – Oct. 2011: International DFG Graduate School 119 "GLOMAR - Global Change in the Marine Realm"
  • Nov. 2007 – Oct. 2017: DFG Excellence Cluster EXC 309 "The Ocean in the Earth System" / MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Studies
  • Jan. 2007 - Dec. 2018: DFG SPP 1266 "INTERDYNAMIK - Integrated Analysis of Interglacial Climate Dynamics"
  • Nov. 2009 – Oct. 2018: International DFG Research Training Group IRTG 1598 "INTERCOAST - Integrated Coastal Zone and Shelf Sea Research" with Waikato University (NZ)
  • Dec. 2013 - Nov. 2023: International DFG Research Training Group IRTG 1904 "ArcTrain - Processes and impacts of climate change in the North Atlantic Ocean" with eight Canadian Universities
  • Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2025: DFG Excellence Cluster EXC 2077 "The Ocean Floor - Earth´s Un­charted In­ter­face"
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