Klaus Tschira Foundation

The Klaus Tschira Stiftung (KTS) a German Foundation was established by the physicist Klaus Tschira in 1995 as a non-profit organization. Its primary objective is to support projects in natural and computer sciences as well as mathematics. The KTS places strong emphasis on the public understanding in these fields. Klaus Tschira’s commitment to this objective was honored in 1999 with the "Deutscher Stifterpreis" by the German National Academic Foundation (German: Studienstiftung). The KTS is located at the Villa Bosch in Heidelberg, Germany, the former residence of Nobel Prize laureate for chemistry Carl Bosch (1874–1940).

The foundation mainly sets off academic and non-profit, non-academic research projects in the fields described above. It also supports teaching and research at public and private universities as well as projects with children and young people. Its main goal is to arouse public appreciation for natural sciences, to practice research for the society and to present science in an understandable way for laymen. Furthermore, upon application, the foundation supports projects which answer the mission of the foundation. The main dedication of the organization is described by three fields:

The Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation (HLFF) was established by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung in 2013. The HLFF organizes the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF), an annual event, which gives a select group of young researchers the opportunity to meet some of the pre-eminent scientists from the fields of mathematics and computer science in Heidelberg.

The foundation induces children and young people to be enthusiastic and curious about natural phenomena.

The Forscherstation is the Klaus Tschira Competence Centre for Early Science Education. It wants to fill kindergarten children as well as their nursery nurses with enthusiasm for natural sciences. Children are supposed to playfully explore natural phenomena from their direct environment. The explorer station is a research facility of the college of education Heidelberg. It also investigates the effects of the further training on the teacher’s development of competence and the children’s learning processes.

The GIS-Station is the Klaus Tschira Competence Centre for digital geographical media. It offers learning opportunities in the fields of remote sensing, geographical information systems or GPS. Therewith the station wants to support teacher’s and student’s competence in the use of digital geographical media. It is assumed that digital geographical media will help students to better explore the earth and the facets of global change. The project is attended by the college of education Heidelberg.

Every year since 2006, the Klaus Tschira Foundation hosts scientific adventure days in Luisenpark, Mannheim. Children, students, teachers and parents can go on a natural scientific expedition with competitions for students, oral presentations peppered with experiments and hands-on exhibitions. The emphasis of the Explore Science is placed on a different scientific theme every year.

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