Search
Edit Template

Sites that are significant to physics and its history can be considered for the Historic Site distinction from the EPS. The EPS will work with the nominators to obtain local authorisations for placing a plaque and in organising the commemorative ceremony.

Nominations

Nominations are open throughout the year. Submission will be processed by the EPS Historic Sites Selection Committee three times a year. Sites that will be considered are places (laboratories, buildings, institutions, universities, towns, etc.) associated with an event, discovery, research, or body of work, by one or more individuals, that made important contributions to physics. This includes places where instruments and/or apparatus were designed, making significant contributions to physics and research. Please note that normally only one Historic Site per organization will be considered.
To make a nomination for an EPS Historic Site, please follow the instructions here.

Ceremony

If your nomination gets approved a commemorative plaque needs to be produced. Some elements of the design are mandatory (EPS logo & EPS Map of Europe) and the final text on the plaque also needs the approval of the EPS HS Committee. The material and format of the plaque can be unique for each individual case to fit the intended location. The cost of the plaque is carried by the local organiser.

The local party and the EPS will agree upon the date for the commemoration of the proposal (the unveiling of the plaque). A delegation of high-level EPS representatives will attend the ceremony.

The committee would like to receive the following information as soon as possible after your nomination has been approved.

  • Have your nomination received all local approvals?
  • Are you in contact with your national physical society about the nomination?
  • Which institutions etc. will be involved in the ceremony?
  • Will there be an event, like a conference, in connection with the ceremony?
  • What financial support is secured and from where?
  • What media coverage is expected?

The EPS also expects the local organiser to submit articles about the event for the EPS publications e-EPS and EPN.

Please note that if the site has not been inaugurated with a ceremony within three (3) years, the nomination has to be redone.

Historic Sites Nomination Form

"*" indicates required fields

Name*
Are you an Individual Member ?*
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

EPS Historic Sites inaugurated since 2012

Austria

  • The Institute for Radium Research, Vienna (2015)
  • Atominstitut, TU, Vienna (2019)
  • Victor Franz Hess Messtation, Haflekar/Innsbruck (2022)
  • Institute of Physics, University of Graz (2024)

Belgium

  • The Hotel Metropole, Brussels (2015)
  • Holy Spirit College, Leuven (2019)
  • Cyclotron Hall, Louvain-La-Neuve (2021)

Bulgaria

  • The Study of Georgi Nadjakov, Sofia (2014)

Croatia

  • Meteorological Observatory, Zagreb (2022)

Czech Republic

  • The Ernst Mach Physics Institute, Prague (2016)

Denmark

  • The Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen (2013)

Finland

  • Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory, Sodankylä (2022)

France

  • Laboratory “Les Cosmiques”, Col du Midi, Chamonix (2012)
  • The LAL-LURE Accelerator Complex, Orsay, Paris (2013)
  • The Curie Laboratory of the “Institut du Radium”, Paris (2017)
  • Les Houches School of Physics, Les Houches (2020)
  • Ampère House, Lyon (Poleymieux) (2021)
  • Institut d’Études Scientifiques de Cargèse (2022)
  • Institut de Physique Nucléaire Orsay (2023)

Germany

  • PTB, Formerly PTR, The National Metrology Institute, Berlin (2013)
  • The Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich (2015)
  • The Former Physical Institute of the University of Würzburg, Würzburg (2016)
  • Laboratories of Kirchoff and Bunsen, Heidelberg (2018)
  • The Former Physics Institute, Frankfurt am Main (2019)
  • Institute for High Voltage Engineering, RWTH, Aachen (2019)
  • City of Jena (2021)
  • Magnus-Haus, Berlin (2021)
  • City of Göttingen (2025)

Hungary

  • The Neutrino Experiment at MTA Atomki, Debrecen (2013)
  • The Fasor Lutheran Secondary School, Budapest (2015)
  • Old Physics Building of the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (2018)

Ireland

  • Dunsink Observatory, Dublin (2018)
  • Birr Castle, Demesne (2019)

Israel

  • Racah Institute of Physics, Jerusalem (2023)

Italy

  • The Goldfish Fountain of the Physics Institute of Panisperna Street – Centro Fermi, Rome (2012)
  • The Hill of Arcetri, Florence (2013)
  • The Villa Griffone in Pontecchio Marconi, Bologna (2013)
  • The AdA Storage Ring at the INFN Frascati National Laboratory, Frascati, Rome (2013)
  • The Mount Vesuvius Observatory, Hercolaneum, Naples (2015)
  • The “Piersanti Mattarella Tower of Thought” of the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture, Erice (2016)
  • Institute of Physics of Archirafi Street, Palermo (2019)
  • The Academy of Sciences of the Bologna Institute (2019)
  • The Aldo Pontremoli Institute of Complementary Physics, Milan (2022)
  • The Accademia Galileiana, Padua (2025)
  • The Villa Mondragone (2025)

Lithuania

  • Theodor von Grotthuss Laboratory, Gedučiai/ Žeimelis (2022)

Netherlands

  • The Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory and Lorentz Institute, Leiden (2015)
  • The Philips NatLab, Eindhoven (2017)
  • Sonnenborgh Observatory (2021)
  • Zeeman Laboratory, Amsterdam (2022)

Norway

  • Haldde Observatory, Alta (2018)

Poland

  • Hoza 69, Warsaw (2013)
  • The Cathedral, Kamien Pomorski (2013)

Portugal

  • The Cabinet of Physics of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra (2016)

Romania

  • Magurele Physics Campus, Magurele (2017)
  • Faculty of Physics, (UAIC), Iași (2023)

Russia

  • The Study of Bruno Pontecorvo – JINR, Dubna (2013)
  • Institute of Spectroscopy, ISAN, Troitsk (2018)
  • Mendeleev’s Museum-Archive, St. Petersburg (2019)

Serbia

  • Mansion of Misa Anastasijevic, Belgrade (2023)

Spain

  • The Fabra Observatory, Barcelona (2014)
  • The Students Residence (Residencia de Estudiantes), Madrid (2015)
  • Laboratorium Bergara, Basque Country (2018)

Sweden

  • The Observatory of Tycho Brahe, Hven Island, Landskrona (2013)
  • The Uddmanska House, Kungälv (2016)
  • A.J. Ångström Physics Institute, Uppsala (2021)
  • Old Department of Physics, Lund (2022)

Switzerland

  • The Synchro-Cyclotron, SC – CERN, Geneva (2014)
  • The Einstein House, Bern, as Joint APS-EPS Historic Site (2015)
  • “Les Bastions” of the University of Geneva, Geneva (2017)
  • IBM Research Laboratory, Rüschlikon, Zürich (2017)
  • Jungfraujoch Research Station (2019)
  • Stachelschützenhaus, Basel (2023)

United Kingdom

  • The European Birthplace of the Atomic Timekeeping – NPL, Teddington (2014)
  • The Blackett Laboratory, London (2014)
  • H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory (Royal Fort) of the University of Bristol, Bristol (2017)
  • The Physics Department at the University of Dundee (2019)

USA

  • The Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, as Joint APS-EPS Historic Site (2016)

Contact

Karl Grandin

Chair of the EPS Historic Sites Selection Committee

Gina Gunaratnam

Administrative Officer for EPS Historic Sites

Subscribe to our newsletter

e-EPS is the monthly newsletter of the EPS. By subscribing, you will get information about the activities of the EPS, and other items of interest to the physics community.
© 2025 EPS. All rights reserved.