German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

Leopoldina
Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften

Type	national academy
Founded	1 January 1652 in the Holy Roman Empire
Location	Halle, Germany
Key people	Jörg Hacker (President)
Services	scholarships, awards, consultation, research
Method	science, academics
Members	1,400 members
Motto	nunquam otiosus (Latin: "never idle")
Website	http://www.leopoldina.org

The Leopoldina is the national academy of Germany.

Historically it was known under the German name Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina until 2007, when it was declared the national academy of Germany.

The Leopoldina is currently located in Halle. Founded in 1652, the Leopoldina claims to be ^{[1], p. 5} the oldest continuously existing learned society^[2] in the world.

History

Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire

The Leopoldina was founded in the city of Schweinfurt on 1 January 1652 under the Latin name Academia Naturae Curiosorum, sometimes translated into English as "Academy of the Curious as to Nature."^[3] The four founding members were physicians, namely Johann Laurentius Bausch, first president of the society, Johann Michael Fehr, Georg Balthasar Metzger, and Georg Balthasar Wohlfarth.

In 1670 the society began to publish the Ephemeriden, the world's first medical and scientific journal.

In 1677, Leopold I, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, recognised the society and in 1687 he gave it the epithet Leopoldina.^{[1], p. 7–8; [4]}

At first, the society conducted its business by correspondence and was located wherever the president was working. It was not permanently located in Halle until 1878 and did not meet regularly until 1924.^{[1], pp. 8–9}

When Adolf Hitler became Germany's chancellor in 1933, the Leopoldina started to exclude its Jewish members. Albert Einstein was one the first victims, more than 70 followed until 1938. Eight of them were murdered by the Nazis. ^[5]

At the end of World War II, the city of Halle, and hence the building of the academy, became part of East Germany and the communist government tried repeatedly to nationalise it. However, the Leopoldina successfully resisted these attempts and continued to think of itself as an institution for the whole of Germany. In 1991, after German reunification, the Leopoldina was granted the status of a non-profit organisation. It is presently funded jointly by the German government and the government of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.^{[1], pp. 10–14}

In November 2007, German science minister Annette Schavan announced the re-naming of the Leopoldina to "German Academy of Sciences" (Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften), and said that "due to its international prestige, the Leopoldina is predestined to represent Germany within the circle of international academies." As the German Academy of Sciences, it is a counterpart to the rights and responsibilities of institutions such as Britain's Royal Society and the United States' National Academy of Science.

Activities

The Leopoldina is the first and foremost academic society in Germany to advise the German government on a variety of scientific matters, for instance on climate change.

The Leopoldina gives conferences and lectures and continues to publish the Ephemeriden under the name Nova Acta Leopoldina. It issues various medals and awards, offers grants and scholarships and elects new members to itself. The Academy also maintains a library and an archive and it also researches its own history and publishes another journal, Acta Historica Leopoldina devoted to this subject.^{[1], pp. 15–33}

Honours

Apart from being a fellow, excellence can also be rewarded by receiving one of the following honours:

• honorary membership
• Cothenius Medal (first awarded in 1792)
• Carus Medal (first awarded in 1896)
• Schleiden Medal (first awarded in 1955)
• Mendel Medal (since 1965, in honour of Gregor Mendel)
• Darwin Badge (only awarded in 1959 - the 100th anniversary of the publication of The origin of species)
• Leopoldina Prize for Junior Scientists
• Georg Uschmann Prize for History of Science
• Leopoldina Research Prize (since 2001, funded by the Commerzbank Foundation)
• Thieme Prize of the Leopoldina for Medicine
• Medal of Merit (awarded by the Presidium only on special occasions)

Membership

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Three quarters of the members are from German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and one quarter from about 30 other nations. The election to membership of the Leopoldina is the highest academic honour awarded by an institution in Germany.

As of 2007, a total of 157 Nobel prize laureates are fellows of the Leopoldina.^[6]

Among the most noted of fellows are for instance:

• Christian Ludwig Brehm
• Charles Darwin
• Albert Einstein (excluded 1933 for being Jewish)
• Gerhard Ertl
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• Theodor W. Hänsch
• Wilhelm Ostwald
• Max Planck
• Ernest Rutherford

Presidents 1652-present

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber

This is a list of the presidents of the Leopoldina with the times and places of office:

• 1652–1665 Johann Lorenz Bausch (Schweinfurt)
• 1666–1686 Johann Michael Fehr (Schweinfurt)
• 1686–1693 Johann Georg Volckamer (Nürnberg)
• 1693–1730 Lukas Schröck (Augsburg)
• 1730–1735 Johann Jakob Baier (Altdorf bei Nürnberg)
• 1735–1769 Andreas Elias Büchner (Erfurt, Halle)
• 1770–1788 Ferdinand Jakob Baier (Nürnberg)
• 1788–1791 Heinrich Friedrich Delius (Erlangen)
• 1791–1810 Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (Erlangen)
• 1811–1818 Friedrich von Wendt (Erlangen)
• 1818–1858 Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (Erlangen, Bonn, Breslau)
• 1858–1862 Dietrich Georg Kieser (Jena)
• 1862–1869 Carl Gustav Carus (Dresden)
• 1870–1878 Wilhelm Friedrich Behn (Dresden)
• 1878–1895 Hermann Knoblauch (since then: Halle)
• 1895–1906 Karl von Fritsch
• 1906–1921 Albert Wangerin
• 1921–1924 August Gutzmer
• 1924–1931 Johannes Walther
• 1932–1950 Emil Abderhalden
• 1952–1953 Otto Schlüter
• 1954–1974 Kurt Mothes
• 1974–1990 Heinz Bethge
• 1990–2003 Benno Parthier
• 2003–2010 Volker ter Meulen
• 2010–present Jörg Hacker

Trivia

• The asteroid 893 Leopoldina is named in its honour.

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Self-produced overview of the Leopoldina (accessed May 27, 2005)
2. ^ Some societies covering only specific disciplines are older (e.g. the Royal College of Physicians was founded in 1519) and the Royal Society started informally in 1646 and received its charter in 1650 so is generally considered the oldest.
3. ^ As for instance in the monumental A History of Magic and Experimental Science by Lynn Thorndike (see online).
4. ^ Groschenheft magazine on the Leopoldina's anniversary (German) (accessed May 27, 2005)
5. ^ Speech of Leopoldinas president Volker ter Meulen 2009
6. ^ http://www.leopoldina-halle.de/cms/fileadmin/user_upload/leopoldina_downloads/Nobelpreise_Leopoldina.pdf

External links

• German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, official website.