Darmstadt

Darmstadt
Central Darmstadt
Flag Coat of arms
Darmstadt
Location of Darmstadt within Hessen
Coordinates: 49°52′N 8°39′E / 49.867°N 8.650°E / 49.867; 8.650Coordinates: 49°52′N 8°39′E / 49.867°N 8.650°E / 49.867; 8.650
Country	Germany
State	Hesse
Admin. region	Darmstadt
District	Urban district
Government
• Lord Mayor	Jochen Partsch (Alliance '90/The Greens)
Area
• Total	122.23 km2 (47.19 sq mi)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	155,353
• Density	1,300/km2 (3,300/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	64283–64297
Dialling codes	06151, 06150
Vehicle registration	DA
Website	www.darmstadt.de

Largest groups of foreign residents
Nationality	Population (2015)
Turkey	4,796
Italy	2,123
Poland	1,642
India	1,258
China	1,003
Morocco	954
Spain	771
Portugal	567

Darmstadt (German pronunciation: [ˈdaʁmʃtat]) is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has a population around 150,000 (2013). The Darmstadt Larger Urban Zone has 430,993 inhabitants.

Darmstadt holds the official title "City of Science" (German: Wissenschaftsstadt) as it is a major centre of scientific institutions, universities, and high-technology companies. The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is located in Darmstadt, as well as GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research, where several chemical elements such as bohrium (1981), meitnerium (1982), hassium (1984), darmstadtium (1994), roentgenium (1994), and copernicium (1996) were discovered. The existence of the following elements were also confirmed at GSI Centre for Heavy Ion Research: nihonium (2012), flerovium (2009), moscovium (2012), livermorium (2010), and tennessine (2012). Darmstadt is also the seat of the world's oldest pharmaceutical company, Merck, which is the city's largest employer.