Press release of the Science Year 2016*2017 – Seas and Oceans
Now anyone can take advantage of this opportunity, very comfortably from the couch at home: The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in cooperation with Google Arts & Culture presents a digital exhibition with a 360° tour around the FS SONNE, one of the most modern research ships worldwide, in the Science Year 2016*2017 – Seas and Oceans.
"Research ships exert a special fascination – for laypeople as well as technicians and scientists. The SONNE is an extraordinary flagship of German marine research, which is used and appreciated as an international research platform. Stays in the harbor, particularly in Germany, are rare. People interested in the topic can now visit the research ship SONNE anywhere with the virtual tour," says Federal Minister for Education and Research Johanna Wanka. The format was presented for the first time to a wide audience during the open house day of the Federal Government last weekend in Berlin.
The digital exhibition, which can be experienced conveniently with a computer or smartphone via www.wissenschaftsjahr.de/sonne through the Google Arts & Culture App, consists of three parts.
The core of the exhibition is the "virtual reality tour": The mediated tour around the SONNE makes it possible to experience at firsthand, via smartphone and virtual reality glasses, how people live and work on board a research ship. But the ship can also be explored without special glasses. Inspired by the principle of Google Street View, curious people have the opportunity to do a 360° tour per mouse click on and through the ship. Moreover, the visitors of the website can click through a multimedia exhibition on the research ship SONNE. This includes a portrait of the ship built in 2014 as well as insights into the fascinating deep sea research carried out on board.
"We are pleased to have a modern research ship on our platform for the first time with the FS SONNE," says Amit Sood, director of Google Arts & Culture on the occasion of the live walk. "The FS SONNE, which is often on journeys thousands of kilometers away, can be explored by people worldwide through virtual reality and online exhibitions."
The recordings were made during the stay of the FS SONNE in the harbor in Yokohama, Japan in September and October 2016 and were digitally processed for the virtual reality tour during follow-up. A great contribution to this extraordinary project was made by the German Marine Research Consortium (KDM): The KDM created content for the exhibition and provided additional photo and video material. The digital exhibition is available completely in German and English.
Science Year 2016*17 – Seas and Oceans
Marine research is the topic of the Science Year 2016*17. Oceans and seas cover up to 71 percent of our planet. They are climate machines, a source of nutrition, economic space – and they provide a lot of living space for many plants and animals. Scientists have studied the oceans for centuries; and yet they are still mysterious and in large parts unexplored. The Science Year 2016*17 – Seas and Oceans deals with the exploration of the waters, their protection and sustainable use. The Science Years are a joint initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Wissenschaft im Dialog (Science in dialogue; WiD). They are a key instrument of science communication to transfer knowledge from research to the public. The Science Year 2016*17 is supported by the German Marine Research Consortium (KDM) as specialist partner.
Contact
Editorial Office Science Year 2016*17 – Seas and Oceans
Christine Rutke
Gustav-Meyer-Allee 25 | Gebäude 13/5 | 13355 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 308811-70 | Fax: +49 30 818777-125
presse@wissenschaftsjahr.de
www.wissenschaftsjahr.de
…
