Dr. Matthias Röschner: “We are digitizing on a grand scale”

“We are digitizing on a grand scale”

Dr. Matthias Röschner on the online future of the GDNÄ archive, important research questions and highlights of the collection.

Dr. Röschner, your first year as head of archives at the Deutsches Museum is up – how are you doing in your new position?
Since I had already been working in the archive since 2009, the transition to head of the archive has been fairly smooth. Of course, my main tasks have shifted and increased, but my predecessor Dr. Füßl prepared me wonderfully. So I am looking forward to continuing to shape the future of the archive together with a highly motivated team.

How can we imagine your job?
It is more varied than some might think. I am involved in all processes in the archive – from acquiring archival materials to organizing their indexing, from conservation measures and digitization to coordinating their use. In addition to research, public relations work is also very close to my heart: I give lectures, offer guided tours and write generally understandable articles in order to familiarize interested people with the archive work and our valuable archival records. I spend a lot of time answering scientific inquiries.

Can you explain this with an example?
For example, if a researcher from Berlin asks what sources we have on the professionalization of engineering at the end of the 19th century, I use my knowledge of the holdings to research the estate records of Rudolf Diesel, Oskar von Miller, Franz Reuleaux, Walther von Dyck and others, for example, and send her lists of relevant archival records. The researcher is thus well prepared for a successful visit to our reading room in Munich.

Quite a workload for a full-time position…
…there is still a lot to do. For example, the important committee work, for example within the framework of the Leibniz Association, the Bavarian Archive Day or in the Munich Archive Circle, and cross-sectional tasks such as personnel management and maintaining contacts with universities and institutes of the history of science. For the GDNÄ, I regularly comb through scholarly antiquarian bookshops and auction catalogs and follow up on promising leads in order to be able to add to what is missing.

With success?
Yes, absolutely. For example, we were able to acquire some original documents from the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century from the private collections of board members. But there are still large gaps, mainly due to the old archive that was confiscated by the Soviets towards the end of the Second World War and has since disappeared.

Museumsinsel Ansicht Herbst © Deutsches Museum

In autumnal light: the exhibition building on Munich’s Museum Island. © Deutsches Museum

Your predecessor, Dr. Füßl, repeatedly campaigned for the return of the collection. Will you do the same?
Yes, we will of course continue to keep an eye on it. But I don’t think we will reach our goal quickly. The Ukraine war further darkens the prospects.

What is the importance of the GDNÄ archive for your institution?
The GDNÄ is the oldest interdisciplinary scientific society in Germany and the mother of renowned professional societies in Germany and abroad – its archive is therefore of great national importance. In addition: Unlike other scientific institutions whose archives were completely destroyed during World War II, at least some historical pieces from the early days have been preserved by the GDNÄ.

What is particularly impressive?
For example, the nine-page print of a speech from 1828 in which Alexander von Humboldt promoted the establishment of sections and thus initiated the first major reform of the GDNÄ. Or the handwritten list of participants from the 1834 meeting in Stuttgart. Albert Einstein’s letter from 1913 is also very impressive. In it, the physicist asks to be allowed to give his lecture in a joint session for mathematics and physics, as he is going into “some formulas so that what I have to present is not too vag[e].”

On the Internet, you can still hardly find anything about the GDNÄ archive in the Deutsches Museum. Do you want to change that?
Yes, we are in the process of digitizing our holdings on a large scale. In the next few years, you will be able to find indexing data for all archival materials on the web, with information on title, scope and chronological classification. This will enable worldwide research on topics, persons, institutions and companies – and links to other estates and holdings that would be inconceivable in the analog world. We will also offer digital copies of the archival records online, provided there are no copyright objections. This applies, for example, to the assembly reports from 1822 to 1900, with which I would like to do a separate project of digitization followed by full text recognition.

That sounds exciting, but also like a lot of work. How big is your team?
There are eleven archivists working with me, who have plenty to do even without additional projects. However, we are actively supported by our in-house “Deutsches Museum Digital” initiative. It is in the process of making the museum’s scientific holdings and object collections publicly available via a central online portal. By 2025 at the latest, on the centenary of the opening of Munich’s Museum Island, the goal is to be able to search all available data and digitized material on the Internet.

Space for concentrated work: the reading room of the archive. © DMA CD 65461a

Do you still find time for your own research?
Less than before, but I am currently very interested in provenance research. That is, how and under what circumstances did objects and archival materials come to the Deutsches Museum? There is a cross-departmental working group in the museum that is investigating these research questions and which I coordinate together with a colleague from the area of object collections. The archive plays a key role in this, because this is where the museum’s historical administrative files are kept. A joint publication is also planned, in which I would like to contribute with the provenance of archive holdings.

What open research questions do you see when you think about the recent history of the GDNÄ?
There are quite a few, for example: How did the GDNÄ manage to gain a foothold in the Federal Republic after the war? What personal and thematic continuities are there between the Nazi and post-war periods? The topic of women and the GDNÄ has hardly been dealt with. I am convinced that the documents available to us would yield a great deal for such research.

Your institute will have an exhibition booth at the anniversary meeting in Leipzig. What can visitors expect?
We will be showing some of the highlights of the GDNÄ archive in a poster exhibition, including the medal for the centenary of the GDNÄ with a portrait of Lorenz Oken on the front and a city view of Leipzig on the back, and also the commemorative publication for the Leipzig meeting in 1922. Also on display will be artfully designed Art Nouveau publications from the early 20th century and the Einstein letter mentioned above. We are happy to be available for discussions and look forward to receiving tips on interesting new documents for the collection. You can find us in the Market of Sciences in the basement of the Leipzig Congress Hall, where several scientific institutes from Leipzig will also have booths.

What you tell us about your work does not fit at all with the ideas of dusty files and sleeve protectors that many lay people associate with your profession. What encouraged you as a young person to go in this direction?
Even during my history studies, I was fascinated by the – literally – unique archive sources. There is something very special about working with letters, notebooks, reports, and drawings that exist only once and that often only one person before me, the scribe, held in his or her hands. I found out in several internships that the profession is very future-oriented and involves a lot of responsibility. For only those records that the archivist evaluates as “worthy of archiving” and then actually takes into the archive will be available to future generations. As an archivist, I can not only discover the fascination of the original for myself, but also pass it on to others. In addition to my task of acquiring and preserving historical sources, I see myself above all as a mediator of information and a builder of bridges between history and the present.

Matthias Röschner. © Private

About the person

Dr. Matthias Röschner is head of the Archive Department of the Deutsches Museum in Munich. Previously, he was deputy to Dr. Wilhelm Füßl, who retired in 2021. Röschner comes from southern Hesse, studied Latin and history, and received his doctorate in 2001 with a study on hospital history. He then completed an archival clerkship and worked at the Ludwigsburg State Archives from 2004 to 2009. In his research, Matthias Röschner deals, for example, with the history of the Deutsches Museum, the provenance of archival holdings and colonial traces in the archives of the Leibniz Association. He is the responsible editor of “ARCHIV-info”, the archive journal of the Deutsches Museum.

In preparation for the 85th GDNÄ meeting in Vienna in 1913: handwritten letter from Albert Einstein, who was invited to speak. © DMA FA 016 vorl. Nr. 1042

Further information:

>> Archiv des Deutschen Museums

>> Archivzeitschrift ARCHIV-info

Title page of Alexander v. Humboldt’s famous speech to the Assembly of German Naturalists and Physicians in Berlin in 1828. © DMA CD 86986

Poster of the archive in the Deutsches Museum @ DMA CD 71578

Nobel Laureates’ Call for Peace

Laureates from all over the world, including GDNÄ members, sign declaration

In the face of the war in Ukraine emanating from Russian soil, almost 140 Nobel Laureates from a wide range of disciplines are calling for peace. They have signed a declaration initiated by the Max Planck Society and supported by the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. The signatories also include GDNÄ members such as Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard and Klaus von Klitzing.

The declaration follows on from the 1955 Mainau Declaration against the use of nuclear weapons. It was co-initiated by Otto Hahn, first President of the Max Planck Society, at the 5th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting. The current declaration states: “The discovery of nuclear fission created the basis for the construction of atomic weapons of destruction. Their current volume has the potential to make the earth uninhabitable for humans and to wipe out human civilisation. Therefore, such weapons must never be used!”

The final sentence of the Mainau Declaration.

The 138 signatories call on governments and business leaders to use scientific knowledge and technologies responsibly and with awareness of their long-term consequences. Russian President Vladimir Putin is called upon to respect the agreements under international law, to recall his armed forces, to start negotiations and to establish peace.

The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and the Max Planck Society are convinced that science must continue the dialogue even if politics remains silent – or fights. With this comes the hope that this initiative, along with countless others, will soon lead to a return to peaceful exchange between nations.

@ Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

Further information:

>> Appeal for peace in German, English, Ukrainian and Russian

>> Mainau Declaration (PDF)

Michael Dröscher: “Bringing people together, developing ideas”

“Bringing people together, developing ideas”

He was an innovation manager in the chemical industry and now keeps the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians on its toes: Michael Dröscher on his plans for the GDNÄ of the future.

Professor Dröscher, you have been Secretary General since 2015 and a member of the Board and Treasurer of the Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians since 2017. What is its greatest treasure?
Clearly the people who are close to our society. I include our members and all those who take an interest in us and contribute to our activities, for example by giving talks at our meetings. A great treasure is also the student programme, which gives us wonderful access to young people. Of course, we hope to attract even more people from science, society, and schools to become members. This is not easy these days.

Why is that?
Most associations are losing members and don’t have enough new blood. The GDNÄ, which is also organised as an association, is no exception. Fortunately, we are very generously supported by foundations, so our existence does not depend solely on membership fees. We do not simply accept the decline but do our utmost to fight it.

How can we do that?
First, we involve young people more than in the past, for example with our own formats at our meetings. For example, at the start of the 200th anniversary celebrations in Leipzig, schoolchildren will organise a part of the programme under the motto “We only have one Earth”. Second, we want to activate our members more strongly, we still see a lot of potential there. As soon as the Corona situation allows, there will also be regional presence meetings again. We introduced this new format before the pandemic and hope to be able to invite our members again soon to exchange ideas with them across disciplines.

Is the interdisciplinary approach of the GDNÄ still up to date in view of ever greater specialisation in the natural sciences?
Both are important, but the importance of the interdisciplinarity is growing. Let us take my field, chemistry. There is still the classical synthesis of molecules and the development and optimisation of processes. But the great advances occur where chemists work together with biologists and computer scientists. In the GDNÄ we want to inspire this, at our meetings and in between at the regional meetings. I see an enormous need here that is not met by any other scientific society. The personal exchange about new findings in biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, engineering, and medicine without direct pressure to exploit them and with leading experts – that is a great opportunity for the GDNÄ.

Aerial view of the Marl Industrial Park in the Ruhr region: with an area of more than six square kilometres, the site is one of the largest industrial parks in Germany. What was once the address of Chemische Werke Hüls AG is now Evonik’s largest site. A total of more than ten thousand people work in the Marl Industrial Park – in almost twenty companies. © Evonik Industries AG

Is this only about basic research or also about applied knowledge?
Both should play a role. However, applied research is often neglected in public discourse as well as within the GDNÄ. It deserves more attention.

You know both worlds and, after professional beginnings in academia, you moved to industry. In 1982 you started your industrial career at Chemische Werke Hüls AG, a company that no longer exists. How did you experience the structural change in the German chemical industry?
This change began soon after I joined Hüls AG in the early 1980s with more and more company mergers and start-ups. When you are in the middle of it, it is not always easy. Overall, however, this development was inevitable in order to survive in an increasingly globalised world. Ultimately, the many mergers have made the German chemical industry stronger and more innovative. One example: the Marl Chemical Park, where I started, is now Evonik’s largest site and is also home to about 25 other chemical companies.

You worked as an innovation manager for many years. There is a continuous need for creative and at the same time practicable solutions. Do you have a recipe?
Unfortunately, there is no patent remedy. What worked for me was this approach: bring together good people from different company divisions, let them develop their ideas in protected start-up-like structures, so-called project houses, and feed the solutions, as soon as they are close to the market, into the divisions of the parent company. This approach proved successful, for example, with the Hüls subsidiary Creavis, which then became part of Degussa, both of which have since been merged into the Evonik Group.

Have successful innovations come from this approach?
I think so. At Creavis, for example, we developed biochemical processes for the production of amino acids, in which Evonik is now the world market leader. Very early on, work was done there on functional nanoparticles, which are indispensable in many areas today – just think of the production of microchips and the application in paints and cosmetics.

Production facilities in the evening light: The Marl Industrial Park is connected in many ways to the European road, rail and waterway network. © Evonik Industries AG

How do you see the future of Germany as an industrial location?
We are in the middle of a major transformation towards more climate-friendly energy sources and raw materials. The fossil age is coming to an end, and it is clear to industry that it must completely reposition itself. The investments for the next 15 to 30 years are already geared to this. The transformation can succeed if we have enough hydrogen and can reliably obtain it from sun-rich countries. Some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, are preparing for this. As a member of the Enquete Commission on the Future of the Chemical Industry in North Rhine-Westphalia, I have dealt extensively with this topic and continue to advise companies on these issues.

Much of the public debate is currently about gas as a transitional solution. What is your opinion?
In order to meet the growing energy demand in our country and to replace the coal and nuclear power plants that we have shut down and will shut down in the near future, we cannot do without gas in the foreseeable future. In the future, the chemical industry alone will need as much electricity as all private households together today, and electromobility will need as much again. Gas-fired power plants will probably be needed as a bridging technology for another 15 to 20 years. We also need to build new plants. Evonik is currently building two new gas-fired power plants in the Marl Chemical Park to replace two coal-fired units. In any case, we have to ensure that we can obtain as much gas as we need, whether it comes as liquefied gas by tanker or via the pipelines. If Nord Stream 2 does not come for political reasons, we will need other supply routes.

Finally, let’s take another look at the GDNÄ, which will soon be 200 years old. How far are you with the preparations for the celebration?
We are right on schedule. With the Leipzig Congress Hall we have found a wonderful venue for the festive assembly in September, the lecture programme with renowned scientists is set and the students will come together in early summer to design their part of the programme. There will be an attractive, generally understandable commemorative publication in book form. We are increasingly addressing the public this time: with media reports, via Twitter and other social media, and with lectures to which all Leipzigers are invited. We attach great importance to the exchange with society – entirely in the spirit of the Year of Science 2022, which aims to strengthen citizen participation in science and research under the motto “Nachgefragt!” – which means both, “Inquired” and “in demand!”.

Prof. Dr. Michael Dröscher Dorsten © GDNÄ

Prof. Dr. Michael Dröscher © GDNÄ

About the person

Prof. Dr Michael Dröscher has been Treasurer and Board Member of the GDNÄ since 2017 and its Secretary General since 2015. He comes from Kirn on the Nahe, where he was born in 1949. He studied chemistry in Mainz, where he also completed his doctorate. He then took a position as a scientific assistant at the University of Freiburg and habilitated in macromolecular chemistry at the age of only 31. He continued his academic career first as a Privatdozent and from 1988 as an adjunct professor at the University of Münster.

Even more than basic research, Michael Dröscher is interested in the application of scientific results – and so his path led him to industry. He started in 1982 as a laboratory manager and in 1984 as a department head at Hüls AG in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia. He was to remain with the chemical company, or rather the successor companies Degussa-Hüls, neue Degussa and Evonik-Industries AG, for 27 years – in changing functions. In 1997, the experienced chemist was appointed managing director of the newly founded Hüls subsidiary Creavis Gesellschaft für Technologie und Innovation mbH; today the company operates under the umbrella of Evonik Industries AG as Evonik Creavis GmbH. Five years later, in 2002, Michael Dröscher became Innovation Manager at Degussa AG, which later became part of Evonik.

Michael Dröscher was also involved in professional societies and professional politics, including as chairman of the German Bunsen Society (2005 to 2006) and from 2020 to 2011 as president of the German Chemical Society and as manager of the CHEMIE.NRW cluster. He holds an honorary doctorate from Kazan National Research Technological University (Russia).

In addition to his duties in the GDNÄ, Michael Dröscher is active in many honorary capacities: as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research in Mülheim and as a member of several boards of trustees and advisory boards of institutes of the Max Planck Society, the Leibniz Association and university institutes. He is also a member of the supervisory board of bValue AG, which promotes and co-finances start-ups.

How innovation can revitalise the chemical industry: This is described in a practical way by renowned experts in this book co-edited by Michael Dröscher. Here is a reading sample from the English-language title (ISBN 3-00-012425-X.) © Festel Capital

Weitere Informationen:

>> To the curriculum vitae of Michael Dröscher

>> More on the topic of hydrogen: “Scientists change the world“

>> More on the topic of hydrogen: “Climate change remains to be the real crisis”

>> Final Report of the Commission of Inquiry “The Future of the Chemical Industry in NRW”

>> Science Year 2022: Wissenschaft im Dialog

>> Science Year 2022: Auftakt zum “Wissenschaftsjahr 2022 – Nachgefragt!”

Eva-Maria Neher: “Ambitious research, presented from a qualified source”.

“Ambitious research, presented from a qualified source”

Promoting young research talent is particularly close to the heart of biochemist Eva-Maria Neher. She founded the Göttingen Experimental Laboratory for Young People (XLAB) and gave decisive impetus to the GDNÄ’s student programme.

Professor Neher, you have been involved with the GDNÄ for many years: for the student programme, in committee work and, a few years ago, as president. What drives you?
Clearly my love of science, especially the natural sciences. I am interested in many fields, but today it is almost impossible to keep up to date everywhere. That’s where the GDNÄ comes in handy: at its conferences, it brings together top-class scientists from different disciplines who present the latest research as if on a silver platter – you just have to grab it.

When was the first time you had this silver platter experience?
It was, I can still remember it well, at the 2004 meeting in Passau. It was under the motto “Space, Time, Matter”. I was thrilled by the lectures, by the stimulating atmosphere and became a member shortly afterwards.

The XLAB attracts young talent from all over the world. © Sven Dräger

That was the time when you also set up and ran the experimental laboratory for young people XLAB in Göttingen – a very active time.
For me it was a period of big changes. After a scientific career that had just begun, I had to take a long family break with five children – nine years in total. After that, I really wanted to return to science. But in the 1990s there was practically no chance of returning to research. So I looked for other ways and developed plans for a laboratory where students in grades 11 and 13 could experiment together with scientists. We were able to hold the first courses in the laboratories of the Faculty of Chemistry at Göttingen University in 1999; the XLAB opened a year later.

At that time, there was much public discussion about the human genome, stem cells and green genetic engineering. At the same time, science was opening up more and more to exchange with society. So the conditions were good for the XLAB?
Yes, it came at exactly the right time. Public interest in research topics was great, but many people lacked basic scientific knowledge. I am convinced that this is best acquired by experimenting in well-equipped laboratories and in personal contact with scientists. Fortunately, we were able to convince not only many great researchers at Göttingen University of this, but also the state government of Lower Saxony, which has been supporting us ever since. Soon we had our own building, and highly motivated, hand-picked students flocked in from all over the world for courses lasting several days in chemistry, physics, biology and computer science. Over time, I was able to establish two XLAB experimental labs abroad: one in Argentina at the Max Planck Research Centre in Rosario and another in China, in Shenzhen. Both projects are very actively run by highly appreciated researchers. However, interest in Göttingen as a location continues unabated, although in Corona times, online courses naturally dominate. Currently, the XLAB is being expanded to include a meeting centre with overnight accommodation in order to be prepared for the anticipated post-pandemic onslaught.

Eva-Maria Neher vor einem vollen Hörsaal beim Science Festival 2012. © Theodoro Da Silva

Science calls, Göttingeners come: Eva-Maria Neher in front of a packed auditorium at the Science Festival 2012. © Theodoro Da Silva

You retired from the XLAB in 2018 but remain involved with the GDNÄ’s student programme. How has it developed from your perspective?
The programme is on a good course, I would say, and a win-win situation. The GDNÄ needs the young people to give it a new shine in the long term. And the students are enthusiastic about the challenging programme, as the feedback shows. Some are meeting peers for the first time who tick just like them and are passionate about science – so the joy is naturally great. When I was elected to the GDNÄ board in 2012, I immediately took care of the student programme and brought Paul Mühlenhoff, an excellent member of staff from the XLAB, on board. He dug deep into the new task and made the programme what it is now.

Distinguished group: After receiving the Lower Saxony State Medal, the recipients gather around Prime Minister Stephan Weil (from left to right: Martin Kind, Managing Director of the Kind Group and President of Hannover 96; Gudrun Schröfel, Director of the Hannover Girls’ Choir; MP Weil; Professor Eva-Maria Neher and entrepreneur Dirk Roßmann). © Nds. Staatskanzlei

Where does the student programme stand today?
The young people are taking an increasingly active role in the meetings. For example, at the 2016 meeting, which fell during my presidency, we relaunched the “Science in 5 Minutes” format. It is a kind of science slam by students for students with the aim of presenting a research topic in five minutes in an understandable and entertaining way. The participants are always very enthusiastic and can practise presenting and discussing along the way. We are planning exciting new programme formats for the 200th anniversary celebrations in Leipzig – I am already looking forward to it.

The student programme is undoubtedly an important task of the GDNÄ. What else?
Above all, sophisticated science communication. There are many people who want to learn more about high-level research – not from books and not from the media, but from scientists themselves. At its meetings, the GDNÄ is already moving in this direction. But I would like to see more of this happening between meetings in the future.

Der Vorstandsvorsitzenden der Sartorius AG , Dr. Joachim Kreuzburg, übergibt im Jahr 2016 einen 3D-Drucker als Geschenk an das XLAB. © Sven Dräger, XLAB

The CEO of Sartorius AG , Dr Joachim Kreuzburg, hands over a 3D printer as a gift to the XLAB in 2016. © Sven Dräger, XLAB

If I may ask something personal: You are married to a famous scientist, the Nobel laureate in medicine Erwin Neher. One always hears that the Nobel Prize upsets the lives of laureates. Was that also the case in your family?
My husband actively prevented his life from being disrupted – and our lives didn’t change too much either. We are both very down-to-earth, live in a small community near Göttingen and have tried to raise our children as modestly as possible. They have all completed their studies according to their interests and are now confidently following their respective professional careers.

Coming from the Ruhr area, you yourself took a completely different path. How do you look back on it?
I was born in 1950 in Mülheim an der Ruhr as the daughter of a gardener. The most I was expected to achieve was a secondary school leaving certificate, because girls, as they said at the time, would marry later and stay at home. I was only allowed to take the Abitur on the condition that I didn’t have to repeat a year. I applied for admission to the natural science grammar school, which today bears the name of the Nobel Prize winner Karl Ziegler from Mülheim – and I was successful. At that time, the school was attended by about 800 boys and only four other girls. It was a good school for life. I learned to go my way even without special privileges.

About the person

As GDNÄ President in 2015 and 2016, Professor Eva-Maria Neher organised the Assembly in Greifswald on the theme of “Natural Sciences and Medicine”. She is currently involved in the preparation of the 200th anniversary assembly in Leipzig. The biochemist from Mülheim an der Ruhr became internationally known as the founder of the XLAB, the Göttingen experimental laboratory for young people. She directed the XLAB, which opened in 2000, until 2018.

From 1969 to 1973, Neher studied biochemistry, organic chemistry and microbiology at the Georg-August University in Göttingen. She graduated in 1974 and received her doctorate in 1977 with a thesis on the regulation of the biosynthesis of poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid in Alcaligenes eutrophus H16. She then worked as a scientific assistant in renowned Göttingen research institutes. Following a family break, Eva-Maria Neher taught experimental courses in chemistry and biology at the Freie Waldorfschule Göttingen in the 1990s and developed the first concepts for the XLAB. Eva-Maria Neher has been married to Nobel Prize winner Erwin Neher since 1978. She is the mother of five children.

For her social commitment, the scientist was awarded the Lower Saxony Order of Merit in 2002 and the Lower Saxony State Prize in 2007. In recognition of her scientific career and her services to science education, the Faculty of Chemistry at Göttingen University awarded Eva-Maria Neher an honorary professorship in 2009. In 2013, she was awarded the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2018 she received the Lower Saxony State Medal and in 2019 the Initiative Award of the Susanne and Gerd Litfin Foundation. From 2014 to 2021, Neher was Chair of the University Council of the European University of Flensburg. She has been a member of the University Council of the University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HAWK) in Lower Saxony since 2008; she has held the chair since 2012. Eva-Maria Neher is the chairwoman of the XLAB Foundation for the Promotion of Natural Sciences, which she founded, and works on the design of the XLAB Encounter Centre.

Das XLAB-Gebäude auf dem Campus der Universität Göttingen. © Architekten Bez+Kock

Weitere Informationen:

>> GDNÄ meeting in Greifswald

>> Student programme of the GDNÄ with interview with Paul Mühlenhoff

>> XLAB – the Göttingen experimental laboratory for young people

Martin Lohse Exciting times for science

“Exciting times for science”

Martin Lohse, President of the GDNÄ, invites to the celebration of the 200th anniversary celebration in Leipzig.

Professor Lohse, the GDNÄ will be 200 years old in September 2022. How will this anniversary be celebrated?
200 years: this is really a significant and wonderful anniversary. During these 200 years science has developed in an incredible way, all over the world, but particularly in Germany – and often from within the GDNÄ. We want to celebrate this special anniversary with a very special four-day anniversary conference in September: in the city where the GDNÄ was founded, Leipzig, and in the beautifully modernised Art Deco Congress Hall at the Leipzig Zoo.

Who is invited to this celebratory conference?
All members are cordially invited, plus participants in the student programme and former scholarship holders, as well as the general public for some of the events. We hope that the Federal President, the Prime Minister of Saxony, and the Mayor of Leipzig will honour us with their presence. Leading scientists from Germany and abroad, including Nobel Prize winners, will give lectures and celebrate with us. And aspiring students of science journalism as well as regional and national media will cover the conference.

As the President, you were able to choose the topic of the conference. Why did you choose “Images in Science”?
This topic has a general, but also a very personal component. You will find both aspects in the conference. Images have always conveyed central messages in and from science. Let us think, for example, of the many drawings Alexander von Humboldt made on his travels, of the spectacular photos of the North Pole MOSAiC expedition, or of the fantastic images of the space telescopes. In my own research, fascinating detailed images can be produced with new types of microscopes: images of individual biomolecules and from the innermost parts of cells and organisms. The anniversary conference will bring us up to date in this very broad spectrum of images.

Last kiss: The picture shows a cell that is dividing into two daughter cells. The cell nuclei are in blue, the mitochondria in green and the microtubules in orange. Image taken with optical ultra-high resolution microscopy (Structured Illumination Microscopy). © Markus Sauer, University of Würzburg

Preparations for the big anniversary are in full swing. Let us take a look behind the scenes!
Preparations for GDNÄ conferences always take well over a year: topics and speakers are discussed and found, conference logistics are planned, a social programme is organised. We started planning for the anniversary conference a good two years ago, because this meeting should be even more beautiful than usual. We have attracted many excellent speakers from all over the world. The conference rooms in the Congress Hall provide a magnificent setting for the meeting, the cooperation with the zoo is very close and committed and offers many highlights, and the social programme will make the meeting particularly delightful.

Let us turn our gaze back once more. 1822 to 2022, that is a long time: how has the GDNÄ managed to last over so many years?
The two centuries of its existence are without doubt the most exciting times science has ever experienced. Never before have the developments in science, but also those that science brought to society, been so great – and this is true for the entire spectrum of the GDNÄ. Many disciplines were actually born during this time, and they have all evolved into their own specific worlds. The GDNÄ has always been at the centre of these developments, and many specialist societies have sprung from the GDNÄ, and have often become much larger than the GDNÄ itself. However, during all these years, the GDNÄ has retained some unique features.

What are these special features?
Three aspects characterise the GDNÄ and make it unique: First, the GDNÄ cultivates interdisciplinary discussions across a broad spectrum of subjects – in a way that cannot take place in specialist societies. Second, the GDNÄ runs a student programme with great potential for the future. And third, the GDNÄ addresses the general public: with its activities in science communication, via its homepage, and invites citizens of the city and its region to its meetings. We will highlight all three aspects in Leipzig.

Kongresshalle Leipzig Innen © Leipziger Messe

View into the Great Hall of the lavishly renovated Gründerzeit building from 1900. The building has a total of 15 halls and rooms as well as foyers and lounges. © Leipzig Trade Fair

What will be the role of young people at the Leipzig conference?
We invite more than two hundred young people: Selected high school students from the region, former programme participants, winners of the “Jugend forscht” and “Jugend präsentiert” competitions. There will be preparatory workshops and a presentation of the results at the opening ceremony. The aim will be to define and express young people’s expectations of science. With this programme, which has been organized by Mr Mühlenhoff for many years, we want to address young people and open up paths to science for them. And, of course, also into the GDNÄ.

The Corona pandemic has shown the importance of the dialogue between science and the public. How has the GDNÄ been involved in this issue?
The Corona pandemic has highlighted both strengths but also weaknesses of our society. The strengths include an incredible number of rapidly produced research results, including, above all, the development of vaccines in less than a year. However, it has also become clear how difficult it is to connect to the entire population, to convey research knowledge. And it has also become clear how much basic knowledge is needed for conversations about the disease and meaningful countermeasures. The GDNÄ aims to provide information about this topic on its homepage, it participated in the discussion about risk-adapted measures at an early stage and, together with science academies and research institutions, aimed to inform politicians. Some of its members participated, for example, in a symposium of the Hamburg Academy of Science on “infections and society”. Together with German science academies, we now want to increasingly devote ourselves to the follow-up and ask address two big questions: How did we as a society and how did science fare in this crisis? And what can we learn from this for the future – for future pandemics and other crises, but also for science communication?

What role will the Corona pandemic play in the anniversary meeting?
Corona will not be the focus at the Leipzig meeting. So much has already been said about it that it did not seem to make sense to us. But RNA medicine, which has brought us the best vaccines so far and opens up completely new opportunities for innovative therapies, will be a central topic of the “Medicine” session on Sunday morning in Leipzig.

What are your wishes for the GDNÄ in the coming years?
Of all the wishes I have for the GDNÄ, one is central: that it may continue to play an important role in the dialogue between the sciences, with the public and especially with young people. And that for 200 more years!

About the person

Prof. Dr Martin Lohse has been President of the German Society of Natural Scientists and Physicians (GDNÄ) since 2019. In this honorary office, he is responsible for the programme of the assembly celebrating the 200th anniversary. In his main profession, the renowned pharmacologist has been a professor at the University of Würzburg since 1993, and Chairman of the incubator ISAR Bioscience Institute in Planegg/Munich since 2020. His research focuses on receptors and their signals; they represent the most important targets for drugs.

Martin Lohse studied medicine and philosophy at the universities of Göttingen, London and Paris and did his doctorate in Göttingen at the Department of Neurobiology of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. After working with Ulrich Schwabe in pharmacology in Bonn and Heidelberg, he joined the laboratory of Bob Lefkowitz, who later won the Nobel Prize, at Duke University, where he became an assistant professor. From 1990 to 1993 he was head of a research group at the Gene Centre in Martinsried/Munich, established by Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker. In Würzburg, he founded the Rudolf Virchow Centre, one of the first three DFG research centres, as well as the university’s graduate schools in 2001. After six years as Vice President for Research at the University of Würzburg from 2009 to 2015, he was Chairman of the Max Delbrück Center in the Helmholtz Association in Berlin from 2016 to 2019. He has received numerous awards, including the DFG’s Leibniz Prize, the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine and two grants from the European Research Council. He has co-founded four biotechnology companies. Martin Lohse has held numerous honorary positions in science in Germany and abroad; amongst these, he was Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina from 2009 to 2019.