Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a city in Germany, federal state Hessen, with a population of approx. 136.500, as of 2001.
First mentioned towards the end of the 11th century; certified as "city" by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian in 1330.

In more modern times, Darmstadt is notable for its summer courses in contemporary classical music. They were founded as the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik by Wolfgang Steinecke[?], and ran first annually, then bi-anually. A large number of avant garde composers have given lectures there, including Olivier Messiaen, Luciano Berio, Milton Babbitt, Pierre Boulez, John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, Iannis Xenakis, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel.

Darmstadt was the birthplace of Alexandra of Russia, and Justus von Liebig.

Notable institutions

• Technical university (http://www.tu-darmstadt.de)
• Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (discovered several super-heavy elements, see Hassium, Darmstadtium )
• ESOC - European Space Operations Centre