Institut für Physikalische Chemie

Postdoctoral Research Fellow (f/m/d)

The Faculty of Chemistry at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen welcomes applications for
one Postdoctoral Research Fellow (f/m/d) at the Obenchain research group in the Institute of Physical Chemistry.

The project is titled “The influence of nuclear spin and isotopic isomers of H2, HD, and D2 weakly bound complexes”. The position is remunerated with 100 % E 13 TV-L with a limited contract of 12 months. The starting date will be 01.10.2025.

Required qualifications:

  • you hold (or are in the process of concluding) a Ph.D. degree in Chemistry, Physics or equivalent,
  • are proficient in English and/or German,
  • previous experience in gas-phase spectroscopy.

    • Further qualifications of superior candidates would include:
  • Experience fitting complex rotational Hamiltonians (i.e., high spin or tunnelling motions),
  • Experience in running computational calculations (DFT, ab initio) and comparing between theoretical and experimental results in a rigorous manner,
  • demonstrates aptitude to work with other researchers on common projects (incl. student/project supervision).

    • Project goals include:
  • Testing the viability in measuring H2 complexes in the gas-phase by the H2 frequency shift,
  • Measuring pure rotational spectra of H2 complexes with small molecules,
  • Rigorous benchmarking of experimental results against high-level computational methods.

    • Your application must include:
  • motivation letter,
  • curriculum vitae (including posters, presentations, awards, and publications),
  • certificates of studies or degree certificate,
  • proof of language proficiency,
  • two references (name and contact information of two senior researchers).


The Obenchain group welcomes diverse people. The University of Göttingen is an equal opportunities employer and places particular emphasis on fostering career opportunities for women. Qualified women are therefore strongly encouraged to apply in fields in which they are underrepresented. The university has committed itself to being a family-friendly institution and supports their employees in balancing work and family life. The mission of the University is to employ a greater number of severely disabled persons. Applications from severely disabled persons with equivalent qualifications will be given preference.

The documents are to be submitted by electronic form (single PDF file) to the e-mail daniel.obenchain@uni-goettingen.de . The deadline for submission is 15.07.2025.

If you have any questions, please contact us by e-mail daniel.obenchain@uni-goettingen.de.

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen,
Inst. f. Physikalische Chemie,
Abt. Rotational spectroscopy
z.Hd. Prof. Dr. Daniel Obenchain,
Tammannstr. 6, 37077 Göttingen,
E-Mail: daniel.obenchain@uni-goettingen.de

Please note:
With submission of your application, you accept the processing of your applicant data in terms of data-protection law. Further information on the legal basis and data usage is provided in the https://www.uni-goettingen.de/hinweisdsgvo.