The Gesellschaft zur Verbreitung wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse (Society for the dissemination of scientific knowledge) was an association, founded 17 June 1954 in the Cultural Centre of the VEB Oberspree cable factory in East Berlin, which existed until 1990 in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and whose objective was to enlighten the GDR population, particularly in the fields of science, technology, medicine, economics and other areas of social sciences. From January 1966, it had the alternate name Urania, which was often used as a nickname. [1]
The founding President was the botanist Werner Rothmaler. In his opening address he referred the long-established and valuable traditions of the popularization of science and technology and mentioned as forerunners Ernst Moritz Arndt, the brothers Grimm, Ernst Haeckel, Alexander von Humboldt, Robert Koch, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Following their lead, science should not be understood as purposeless. Instead, the connection between theory and practice should be achieved through new ways of disseminating scientific knowledge, which is why scientifically sound, generally understood presentation and the timeliness of the topic were established as the basis for the work of the society. He called for more scientists and practitioners to become members, to ensure a good supply of lectures and essays in the newly founded popular science magazines published by the Society. [2]
The society worked primarily for a comprehensible dissemination of scientific knowledge and new technologies, and the popularization of science. For this purpose it used broadcasts, on television and on the GDR youth radio station DT64, for example, under the headings "Urania" and "New TV Urania". In addition, it published popular scientific journals and was training provider for school staffs. It also organized lectures, panel discussions and individual events on relevant topics. Thus it took over important tasks of the community colleges in the GDR. The main publications of the associated Urania-Verlag, which was based first in Berlin and in 1963 in Leipzig, were the series "Urania universe", the magazine "Wissen und Leben" ("knowledge and life") as well as the magazine "Urania", published jointly with the Cultural Association of the GDR.
After the political changes of 1989 and the reunification of Germany, a number of local Urania associations in the former East Germany emerged from the society, and in 1991 they established the "Association of New Urania".
Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg was a German naturalist, zoologist, comparative anatomist, geologist, and microscopist. Ehrenberg was an evangelist and was considered to be one of the most famous and productive scientists of his time.
Manfred von Ardenne was a German researcher and applied physicist and inventor. He took out approximately 600 patents in fields including electron microscopy, medical technology, nuclear technology, plasma physics, and radio and television technology. From 1928 to 1945, he directed his private research laboratory Forschungslaboratorium für Elektronenphysik. For ten years after World War II, he worked in the Soviet Union on their atomic bomb project and was awarded a Stalin Prize. Upon his return to the then East Germany, he started another private laboratory, Forschungsinstitut Manfred von Ardenne.
The Latin maxim ignoramus et ignorabimus, meaning "we do not know and will not know", represents the idea that scientific knowledge is limited. It was popularized by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his 1872 address "Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens".
Alfred Ploetz was a German physician, biologist, Social Darwinist, and eugenicist known for coining the term racial hygiene (Rassenhygiene), a form of eugenics, and for promoting the concept in Germany.
Urania is a muse in Greek mythology.
Emil Lederer was a Bohemian-born German economist and sociologist. Purged from his position at Humboldt University of Berlin in 1933 for being Jewish, Lederer fled into exile. He helped establish the "University in Exile" at the New School in New York City.
The German Institute for Economic Research, or, more commonly DIW Berlin, is a economic research institute in Germany, involved in basic research and policy advice. It is a non-profit academic institution, financed with public grants from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Research and the Federal Department for Economics and Technology. DIW Berlin was founded in 1925 as the Institute for Business Cycle Research and took its current name in 1943.
Hans Walter Aust was a German journalist.
Werner Walter Hugo Paul Rothmaler was a German botanist and from 1953 until 1962 head of the Institute for Agricultural Biology of the University of Greifswald. His areas of expertise included plant geography and systematics.
The Gesellschaft zur wissenschaftlichen Untersuchung von Parawissenschaften (GWUP) is a non-profit organisation promoting scientific skepticism, headquartered in Roßdorf, Germany. Its estimated membership in 2016 is 1300 who are scientists or laypersons interested in science. The GWUP annually hosts a conference with varying key subjects.
Peter Weingart is a German professor emeritus in sociology and former director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Bielefeld.
Karl Friedrich Heinrich Marx was a German physician and college lecturer. Despite sharing the same name, he was not related to Karl Marx, the founder of Marxism.
The Pfennig-Magazin, produced jointly with the "Society for disseminating shared practical knowledge" was the first weekly German-language journal for sharing popular scientific and other knowledge by combining text with images. This was made possible by the development of Wood engraving technology which was better suited for reproducing images in large numbers than the copper plate engraving technology used hitherto.
Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at de:Michael Roth (Kybernetiker); see its history for attribution.
Hella Maria Brock was a German music educator, musicologist, and an internationally known Edvard Grieg scholar. Brock was professor of music and English studies at the Leipzig University. She was president, and honorary president of the Grieg-Begegnungsstätte in Leipzig until her death in 2020.
Harry Goldschmidt was a Swiss musicologist.
Karl-Eugen Kurrer is a German civil engineer and expert on the history of construction.
Jürgen Hamel is a German astronomy historian. His research areas are the history of astronomy in the Middle Ages and the early modern period, the period around 1800, the history of astrophysics, astronomy and cultural history, and the history of astronomical instruments.
Dieter Bernhard Herrmann was a German historian of astronomy and author of numerous popular science books on astronomy. He was director of the Zeiss Major Planetarium in Berlin from 1987 to 2004. In his scientific work he dealt with the early development of astrophysics and the application of quantitative methods in the history of science.
Joachim Herrmann was a German historian, archaeologist, scientist, and institutional director. He was a noted scholar in East Germany (GDR) who specialized in Slavic archaeology.