The Jungfraujoch Research Station at 3450 metres is one of the world’s foremost high altitude atmospheric laboratories and observatories.
The iconic Sphinx Observatory, located at 3571 metres altitude, appeared in several Hollywood productions, among others in “The Grand Hotel Budapest”. The research station is carved into the rock and it is connected with the Sphinx observatory via tunnels and elevators.
The research station is also connected by tunnels to the Jungfraujoch Railway Station, the highest located railway in Europe.
The research station has a distinguished, unique record of world-class academic achievements.The research on cosmic rays done by Blackett and Wilson provided basic results closely related to two Nobel prizes in physics (Blackett, 1948; Powell, 1950). The large Wilson chamber that was built up by the two Britons in 1951 in the Sphinx observatory was later used by CERN, where it ushered in the era of modern high-energy experiments. Max Perutz had studied the crystalline structure of ice and glaciers at this station, and later elucidated the structure of haemoglobin. In 1962, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for this work.
The Jungfraujoch Reserach Station operates under the International Foundation High Altitude Research Stations Jungfraujoch and Gornergrat (HFSJG, as per the German abbreviation of the name) which dates back to 1930. The President of HFSJG, Professor Silvio Decurtins (on the right in the top picture) and the director of the Jungfraujoch Research Station, Professor Markus Leuenberger (on the left in the top picture) decided to put the individual Gömböc 1410, carrying the date of foundation of the Research Station (October 14th 1922) on permanent exhibit in the library in the year of the 100th anniversary. Gömböc 1410 has currently the highest elevation from among all individual Gömböc models.
The production of the 90mm tall AlMgSi-alloy individual Gömböc 1410 was supported by Mr Ottó Albrecht. Gömböc 1410 is the first individual Gömböc model which has been manufactured to one micron precision.
See the news release on the HSFJG website: