Germany’s National Academy of Sciences celebrates its third anniversary
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(© picture-alliance/ dpa)
The German Academy of Natural Scientists “Leopoldina” in Halle an der Saale – named as Germany’s National Academy of Sciences in 2008 – is celebrating its third anniversary in 2011. Founded in 1652 by four physicians, the Leopoldina is Europe’s oldest academy of sciences and the oldest still existing scientific academy in the world. It has over 1,300 members worldwide and has counted among them, over the years, 150 Nobel Prize winners, including Albert Einstein, Max Planck and Marie Curie.
TheLeopoldina maintains close contacts with scientists in and outside Europe and holds a host of national and international events every year.
Its main tasks include the scientific treatment of important future topics, such as demographic development or the containment of infectious diseases. It thus provides the public and policy-makers with support in mastering the challenges that face society. It also acts as the voice of Germany’s scientific community on the international stage as well as promoting young scientists.
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(© picture-alliance/ dpa)
During Germany’s partition, the Halle-based Academy managed to avoid being affiliated to the East German state Academy of Sciences, thus maintaining some degree of independence. With members in the East and West, the Leopoldina was the only scientific institution to transcend the Iron Curtain and serve the German scientific community as a whole. And the Academy continues to fulfil its link function in reunited Germany: since 1996, it has served not only the natural sciences and medicine but also the social sciences and the humanities. Given this integrative function and its international prestige, the Leopoldina was predestined to assume its new role as the National Academy of Sciences.
