We are experimenta
We want to invite you to explore the world and get you excited about asking questions and doing research. Learn more about us and how an idea ultimately became experimenta.
Experience gives rise to knowledge. That is the philosophy of experimenta, Germany’s largest science center. The answers to the great challenges of our time such as digitization, mobility, climate change, the energy transition, and health, determine the country’s future viability. Education and science are crucial to finding solutions and shaping our future.
What challenges do we face in communicating knowledge? Which abilities and skills are especially important for people in the future? How does education help to make prosperity possible in an equitable way, to civilize coexistence, and preserve living spaces? It is our task to break down these large questions into concrete educational offerings for the living environment of our visitors.
Experimenta is an experience-based educational institution for all age groups; it is in a special way a place of knowledge, of discourse, of research, of recreation, and education and training. Visitors quickly become discoverers themselves at experimenta: interactive, exploratory, audiovisual, always participatory, inclusive, and frequently in dialogue.
We stand for the networking of various educational offerings outside traditional places of learning like schools and universities. With interdisciplinary offers and a specific educational approach we can awaken interest and enthusiasm for science and technology in society, as well as joy in knowledge and intrinsic knowledge acquisition. As an innovative leisure and educational facility, experimenta offers a compass in a world that is being rapidly changed by science and technology.
Chronicle
2005 – The idea
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In 2005, the department of the then Heilbronn mayor of culture Harry Mergel, come up with the idea of setting up a science center in the empty former Hagenbucher oilseed storehouse —the only remaining relic of a former industrial development on the Neckar Island. On October 5, 2006, the Heilbronn City Council passes the corresponding resolution. The Dieter Schwarz Stiftung gGmbH and other sponsors such as Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG, GasVersorgung Süddeutschland GmbH, and Südwestdeutsche Salzwerke AG agree to sponsor the project. Dr. Wolfgang Hansch develops the initial thematic concept.
2007 – The foundation
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On March 30, 2007 “experimenta – Science Center der Region Heilbronn-Franken gGmbH” is founded as an operating company. Shareholders are the city of Heilbronn, the Dieter Schwarz Stiftung gGmbH, the Heilbronn-Franken Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Heilbronn University, and the Akademie für Information und Management gGmbH. The Dieter Schwarz Stiftung gGmbH agrees to bear the costs for experimenta’s equipment and furnishings. Helmut Himmelsbach, senior mayor of the city of Heilbronn, is elected chairman of the supervisory board, and Dr. Wolfgang Hansch is appointed managing director.
2017 – The success
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By 30 July, 2017, the last day experimenta was open in its previous form, the science center inspired especially children, young people, and families for natural scientific and technological subjects. In total, experimenta welcomed more than 1.3 million visitors.
2019 – The reopening
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The new experimenta opened on 31 March, 2019 and, with its spectacular new building and the renovated existing building, is Germany’s largest science center. On around 25,000 square meters of area, it offers a unique world of knowledge and experience. It is a flagship project of the Dieter Schwarz Stiftung gGmbH.
experimenta’s management
Prof. Dr. Bärbel G. Renner
Managing Director
Phone number: +49 (0) 7131 88795 – 0
Email address: geschaeftsfuehrung@experimenta.science
Experimenta-Platz
74072 Heilbronn
Jan Bodenbender
Phone number: +49 (0) 7131 88795 – 0
Email address: jan.bodenbender@experimenta.science
Kenan Bromann
Phone number: +49 (0) 7131 88795 – 0
Email address: kenan.bromann@experimenta.science
Dr. rer. nat. Christian Sichau
Phone number: +49 (0) 7131 88795 – 0
Email address: christian.sichau@experimenta.science
Dr. rer. nat. Thomas Wendt
Phone number: +49 (0) 7131 88795 – 0
Email address: thomas.wendt@experimenta.science
Nico Wiest
Phone number: +49 (0) 7131 88795 – 0
Email address: nico.wiest@experimenta.science