This woman is behind the Einstein Discovery Center in Ulm

With a spectacular presentation and water show on the Danube on Sunday evening, the people of Ulm will find out what the planned Albert Einstein Discovery Center will look like. Then the design by star architect Daniel Libeskind will be staged on a water wall between Ulm and Neu-Ulm.

One woman who, unlike Albert Einstein, was not born in Ulm is particularly looking forward to this. Nancy Hecker-Denschlag was born in Oak Park near Detroit, Michigan, in 1966 and only moved to Ulm in 2009. She is the driving force behind the new major project in Ulm, which is estimated to cost 90 million euros and, according to a forecast, could attract around 200,000 visitors annually.

Hecker-Denschlag: Albert Einstein Discovery Center will be unique

“It will be a beautiful and unique building,” says Nancy Hecker-Denschlag enthusiastically. “This should be a jewel for the city.” In 2029 it will be opened as a gigantic hands-on museum that will not only depict the life of the city’s most famous son. The theories and findings of the Nobel Prize winner should be brought to life. Visitors young and old should be able to experiment for themselves.

Nancy Hecker-Denschlag founded the “Einstein Discovery Center” association in 2016 and has been its chairwoman ever since. She is a physicist herself, works part-time at Zeiss Meditec in Oberkochen (Ostalbkreis) and “full-time” for the large-scale project in Ulm. “I’m actually on this topic day and night,” says the 58-year-old.

Even as a five-year-old at Einstein Elementary School

By the way, she already knew the name Albert Einstein as a five-year-old girl. When she started school in Oak Park, a suburb of Detroit, her elementary school was actually called Albert Einstein Elementary School. When she was recently back in her old home, she simply had to have her photo taken in front of her former school.

After completing her doctorate in the USA, the physicist made it to Europe. In 2009 she was living with her husband in Innsbruck when he was offered a position at the University of Ulm. Johannes Hecker-Denschlag heads the Institute for Quantum Matter. Nancy found it exciting to move to the birthplace of the great physicist Albert Einstein, but was surprised that there was virtually nothing in Ulm that reminded of the city’s famous son.

The club in Ulm has more than 1,100 members

Nancy Hecker-Denschlag remembered: “When my children went to primary school in Ulm, I missed the practical experimentation in their lessons.” This is how she came up with the idea that Ulm needed an Albert Einstein Museum that was open to participation and participation Invites experimentation. As a newcomer, she found colleagues in Ulm who were enthusiastic about the vision. The club was founded in 2016. Today the Albert Einstein Discovery Center Ulm eV has more than 1,100 members.

The fact that the American star architect Daniel Libeskind, who designed, among other things, the One World Trade Center in New York and the Jewish Museum in Berlin, was won is a sensation that no one in Ulm had expected. “When I saw the draft, I was blown away – really,” explains the club chairman.

Design presentation on a water wall on the Danube

The design will be shown to the population of Ulm and Neu-Ulm for the first time on Sunday, November 24th at 7:30 p.m. with a spectacular water show on the Danube. “Of course we also want to advertise and show people what we’re up to,” says Hecker-Denschlag. Because the major project still needs a lot of sponsors and donations. So far 1.3 million euros have been collected. “Our model is the Ulm Minster, which was also set up as a citizens’ project.”

Her American accent when she enthusiastically talks about her project is reminiscent of Nancy Hecker-Denschlag’s origins. But she has long felt like she is from Ulm. “I’ve been here longer now than any other place on earth,” she says. And adds: “I think it’s important to do something for the future.”