The German Zoological Society (German: Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft; abbr.DZG) is a learned society in Germany, founded in 1890 at Frankfurt am Main. It is registered as a non-profit organisation (German: eingetragene Verein) based in Munich. [1]
The DZG represents German-speaking zoologists and corresponds with other regional and national zoological societies. It represents the interests of zoology among the scientific learned societies and can be consulted by politicians for advice. Membership is open to any zoologist or student of zoology; the DZG currently has about 1500 members. [2] It organises an annual meeting, which until 2004 was held during the week of Pentecost. However, as many universities no longer have a recess during that period, since 2005 the date of the meeting has been decided by the host university.
The DZG publishes its own scientific journal, Frontiers in Zoology , founded in 2004. It is published in cooperation with the online publisher BioMed Central. The DZG formerly published the Zoologische Anzeiger and Zoologische Jahrbücher , since discontinued.
The DZG awards several prizes to support or recognise scientific work.
The Karl Ritter von Frisch Medal is a scientific prize of the DZG. The Medal has been awarded every two years since 1980, to scientists who have distinguished themselves through outstanding zoological work that integrates knowledge from numerous biological disciplines. It is the most prominent scientific prize for zoology in Germany, with an award sum of 10,000 Euros.
List of medallists: [3]
The Dissertation Prize of the Horst-Wiehe-Stiftung has been awarded every two years at the DZG Annual Meeting since 1991, to an outstanding doctoral or habilitation thesis on a zoological subject. The prize sum is 2000 Euros (formerly 4000 Deutsche Mark).
The Werner Rathmayer Prize is a special prize for original work in zoology, within the Jugend forscht competition for young scientists. It has been awarded annually since 2004. The recipient receives a prize of 500 Euros and free admission to the DZG Annual Meeting in the following year.
The Society is a member of the Deutschen Nationalkomitee Biologie (DNK), representing the interests of life scientists in international organisations. It is also a member of the Verband Biologie, Biowissenschaften und Biomedizin in Deutschland e.V. (VBIO), which represents bioscientists in Germany.
→ main article: Jena Declaration
At its annual meeting in September 2019, the DZG approved and released the Jena Declaration, which stated that "the concept of [human] race is the result of racism, not its prerequisite." The Declaration was authored by Martin S. Fischer, Uwe Hoßfeld, Johannes Krause, and Stefan Richter.
The statement characterised the division of humanity into races as social and political stereotyping, resulting from and supported by an anthropological construct on the basis of arbitrarily chosen features like hair and skin colour. This construct has served to justify open and hidden racism and its consequences. [4]
The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
A Burschenschaft is one of the traditional Studentenverbindungen of Germany, Austria, and Chile . Burschenschaften were founded in the 19th century as associations of university students inspired by liberal and nationalistic ideas. They were significantly involved in the March Revolution and the unification of Germany. After the formation of the German Empire in 1871, they faced a crisis, as their main political objective had been realized. So-called Reformburschenschaften were established, but these were dissolved by the Nazi regime in 1935/6. In West Germany, the Burschenschaften were re-established in the 1950s, but they faced a renewed crisis in the 1960s and 1970s, as the mainstream political outlook of the German student movement of that period swerved to the radical left. Roughly 160 Burschenschaften exist today in Germany, Austria and Chile.
The Fruitbearing Society was a German literary society founded in 1617 in Weimar by German scholars and nobility. Its aim was to standardize vernacular German and promote it as both a scholarly and literary language, after the pattern of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence and similar groups already thriving in Italy, followed in later years also in France (1635) and Britain.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, or Leibniz Prize, is awarded by the German Research Foundation to "exceptional scientists and academics for their outstanding achievements in the field of research". Since 1986, up to ten prizes have been awarded annually to individuals or research groups working at a research institution in Germany or at a German research institution abroad. It is considered the most important research award in Germany.
Martin Heisenberg is a German neurobiologist and geneticist. Before his retirement in 2008, he held the professorial chair for genetics and neurobiology at the Bio Centre of the University of Würzburg. Since then, he continues his research with a senior professorship at the Rudolf Virchow Center of the University of Würzburg. Heisenberg studied chemistry and molecular biology in Munich, Tübingen and Pasadena. In 1975 he became Professor of genetics and neurobiology at the University of Würzburg. Heisenberg's work has focused on the neurogenetics of Drosophila, with the aim of investigating the genetic foundations of the Drosophila brain by studying the effect of genetic mutations on brain function. In addition, Heisenberg contributed a number of essays on the topics of science in society, perception, as well as the question of the freedom of the will. He was elected as a member of the Leopoldina in 1989.
The Ignaz Lieben Prize, named after the Austrian banker Ignaz Lieben, is an annual Austrian award made by the Austrian Academy of Sciences to young scientists working in the fields of molecular biology, chemistry, or physics.
Franz Eilhard Schulze was a German anatomist and zoologist born in Eldena, near Greifswald.
The Liebig Medal was established by the Association of German Chemists in 1903 to celebrate the centenary of Justus von Liebig. Since 1946 it has been awarded by the Society of German Chemists.
Members of the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art, awarded to acknowledge and reward excellent and outstanding achievements in the fields of science and art. It is based in Bavaria, Germany.
The Hans Stille Medal was a scientific award of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften, given to an individual who made outstanding contributions in the fields of geology and earth sciences. The award was named after German tectonicist Hans Stille and suspended in 2016.
Gustav Wilhelm Frank was a German-Austrian Protestant theologian, known as the author of a multi-volume work on the history of Protestant theology.
Bekenntnis der Professoren an den Universitäten und Hochschulen zu Adolf Hitler und dem nationalsozialistischen Staat officially translated into English as the Vow of allegiance of the Professors of the German Universities and High-Schools to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialistic State was a document presented on 11 November 1933 at the Albert Hall in Leipzig. It had statements in German, English, Italian, and Spanish by selected German academics and included an appendix of signatories. The purge to remove academics and civil servants with Jewish ancestry began with a law being passed on 7 April 1933. This document was signed by those that remained in support of Nazi Germany.