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{{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters seal.svg , logo_size = 150 , logo_alt = , logo_caption = , image = Carlsbergfondet.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = The building on H.C. Andersens Boulevard. , map = , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption = , map2 = , map2_size = , map2_alt = , map2_caption = , abbreviation = , nickname = , pronounce = , pronounce ref = , pronounce comment = , pronounce 2 = , named_after = , motto = , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = {{start date and age, 1742, 11, 13, df=y , founders =
Johan Ludvig Holstein Johan Ludvig Holstein, Lensgreve til Ledreborg (7 September 1694 – 29 January 1763) was a Danish Minister of state from 1735 to 1751. The Danish colony Holsteinsborg on Greenland (now Sisimiut), was named after him. He was the ancestor of the ...

Hans Gram
Erik Pontoppidan Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan (24 August 1698 – 20 December 1764) was a Danish author, a Lutheran bishop of the Church of Norway, an historian, and an antiquarian. His Catechism of the Church of Denmark heavily influenced Danish and Norwegian reli ...

Henrik Hielmstierne , founding_location = , merger = , type = Non-governmental science academy , purpose = Strengthening the position of science in Denmark and promoting interdisciplinary understanding. , professional_title = , headquarters =
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
, location = , location2 = H.C. Andersens Boulevard 35, 1553 København V , additional_location = , additional_location2 = , origins = , region = , products = , services = , methods = , fields = , membership = , membership_year = , language = , leader_title2 = , leader_name2 = , leader_title3 = , leader_name3 = , leader_title4 = , leader_name4 = , board_of_directors = , key_people = , main_organ = , ideology = , flag = , prayer = , parent_organization = , subsidiaries = , secessions = , affiliations = , budget = , budget_year = , revenue_year = , disbursements = , expenses = , expenses_year = , endowment = , endowment_year = , staff_year = , volunteers = , volunteers_year = , students = , students_year = , website = {{URL, www.royalacademy.dk , remarks = , formerly = , footnotes = , bodystyle = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (Danish: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab or ("Videnskabernes Selskab”) is a Danish academy of science. The Royal Danish Academy was established on November 13, 1742, and was created with the purpose of strengthening the position of Science in Denmark as well as promoting interdisciplinary understanding. The Royal Danish Academy works as a body of cooperation and a meeting place for prominent scientists from all areas of basic scientific research. Its core activities consist of organizing the biweekly meetings for the academy's members, publishing scientific works, advising, and communicating, organizing and conducting events and lectures of a scientific character (e.g. public lectures and symposiums) as well as participating in international cooperation with other scientific academies and with scientific organizations like for example
ISC #REDIRECT ISC {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
and
EASAC The European Academies' Science Advisory Council (EASAC) is a regional association of National Academies of science. Its members are 25 National Science Academies of the Member States of the European Union (EU), and the National Science Academies o ...
. Since 1745, the Royal Danish Academy has had its own publishing company that is still, to this day, publishing scientific books, currently via four different series, all under the main title of ''Scientia Danica.'' A year after the publication of a scientific work, the publication is made available on th
Publication Platform
of the Royal Academy. The Royal Danish Academy also administers several foundations and grants that provide financial support for different scientific work, e.g. research stays outside of Denmark. Her Majesty
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent fema ...
is the Protector of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 2011, the Royal Danish Academy established the Young Academy (Danish: Det Unge Akademi or “DUA”) which acts as a scientific forum for excellent young researchers.


History

The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters was established on November 13, 1742, with the wish of creating a “learned society”. Behind the establishment was
Johan Ludvig Holstein Johan Ludvig Holstein, Lensgreve til Ledreborg (7 September 1694 – 29 January 1763) was a Danish Minister of state from 1735 to 1751. The Danish colony Holsteinsborg on Greenland (now Sisimiut), was named after him. He was the ancestor of the ...
(Count and titular Privy Councillor), Hans Gram (Counsellor, Royal Historiographer and Professor),
Erik Pontoppidan Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan (24 August 1698 – 20 December 1764) was a Danish author, a Lutheran bishop of the Church of Norway, an historian, and an antiquarian. His Catechism of the Church of Denmark heavily influenced Danish and Norwegian reli ...
(Professor of Theology) and Henrik Hielmstierne (Secretary of the Danish Chancellery), and the approbation for the establishment was given by King Christian the 6th of Denmark. Between 1761 and 1843, The Royal Danish Academy undertook a geographical and trigonometrical measuring of
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
and
Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
that resulted in no less than 24 published maps. Another project of that time was a Danish dictionary which was published in 8 volumes during the time of 1793–1905. Throughout the years, part of the Royal Danish Academy's work has also consisted in making out prize essays and awarding medals (silver and gold) to scientists based on their solutions. To this very day, the Royal Danish Academy still carries out the awarding of different medals, however not based on prize essays. From 1855 to 1899, the meetings of the Royal Danish Academy were held at Prinsens Palais (today the
National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget ...
, “
Nationalmuseet The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from Strøget ...
”). Before then, the Royal Academy meetings took place at different venues, e.g. the private homes of some of the members. In 1899, the Royal Danish Academy moved into the new house of the
Carlsberg Foundation Carlsberg Foundation ( da, Carlsbergfondet) was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876, by allocating some of his shares in the Carlsberg Brewery to fund and operate the Carlsberg Laboratory and the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Palace. ...
, located on H.C. Andersens Boulevard in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. Both the academy and the Carlsberg Foundation are still located here today. The building was designed by architect
Vilhelm Petersen Vilhelm Valdemar Petersen (5 April 1830 – 3 July 1913) was a Danish architect who became Royal Building Inspector from 1892 until his death. He was the father of architect Knud Arne Petersen. Biography Vilhelm Petersen was born in Copenh ...
. In 1876, brewer
J.C. Jacobsen Jacob Christian Jacobsen (2 September 1811 – 30 April 1887), mostly known as J. C. Jacobsen, was a Denmark, Danish industrialist and philanthropist best known for founding the brewery Carlsberg Group, Carlsberg. Biography He had no formal acad ...
established the Carlsberg Foundation with the purpose of promoting science. Today, the Carlsberg Foundation's board of directors consists of five members of the academy, elected by the members themselves. Marie Skłodowska-Curie was the first female ever to be elected as a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. In 1968, the first Danish female,
Eli Fischer-Jørgensen Eli Fischer-Jørgensen (; 11 February 1911, Nakskov, Denmark – 27 February 2010, Virum) was a professor of phonetics at the University of Copenhagen and led the Institute for Phonetics. She was a member of the Danish resistance movement fight ...
, was elected as a member too. The members of the Royal Academy count several great and prominent scientists’ names, nationally as well as internationally speaking, including
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
,
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
,
Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...
, H.C. Ørsted and
August Krogh Schack August Steenberg Krogh (15 November 1874 – 13 September 1949) was a Danish professor at the department of zoophysiology at the University of Copenhagen from 1916 to 1945. He contributed a number of fundamental discoveries within severa ...
. Since its establishment in 1742, the Royal Danish Academy has kept a historical archive, and because of that, the academy today has a vast collection of scientific records and documents wherein one may find both portraits of members, handwritten letters and even never before published prize essays as well as a large number of models, diagrams, drawings and other scientific works. In 2019, the entire archives of the Royal Danish Academy was moved to the
Danish National Archives , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = , logo_width = 300px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = File:Rigsarkivet.jpg , picture_width = , picture_cap ...
(Danish: “
Rigsarkivet , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = , logo_width = 300px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = File:Rigsarkivet.jpg , picture_width = , picture_cap ...
”) and may be looked up via the public access platfor
Daisy.


Members

The Royal Danish Academy has about 250 national members and about 250 international members. The members are prominent scientists within both the humanities and social sciences as well as the natural sciences. Each year, a number of new members are elected, and these members will then either belong to the Class of the Humanities and Social Sciences or the Class of Natural Sciences. In even years, 9 new members of the Class of Natural Sciences are elected. In odd years, 6 new members of the Class of Humanities and Social Sciences are elected. A presidium is elected from among the members and by the members themselves
The presidium
is responsible for directing the Royal Danish Academy. It consists of a President (at present Professor Marie Louise Nosch), a Secretary General (at present Professor
Thomas Sinkjær Thomas Sinkjær R (born 1958) is a Danish scientist and professor of neuroscience and technology at the Department of Health Science and Technology of Aalborg University, Denmark. He is the Secretary General of the Royal Danish Academy of Scien ...
), an Editor (at present Professor Marianne Pade) and two Vice Presidents – each being the chairperson of one of the two classes respectively – as well as two class representatives, also one for each class. Throughout the years, many prominent scientists have been a part of the Royal Danish Academy's presidium, counting no other than Professor
Hans Christian Ørsted Hans Christian Ørsted ( , ; often rendered Oersted in English; 14 August 17779 March 1851) was a Danish physicist and chemist who discovered that electric currents create magnetic fields, which was the first connection found between electricity ...
who acted as the Secretary General of the academy, and Professor
Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. B ...
who acted as president from 1939 to 1962. The presidium of the Royal Danish Academy carries out its work with assistance fro
the Royal Academy’s secretariat
The secretariat carries out the administrative functions underlying the Royal Danish Academy's purposes.


See also

*
Royal Danish Academy of Art The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dani ...


References

* ''A Jubilee Celebratory Publication – The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters 1742-2017'', published 2017 by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.
Publication Platform
of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (public access). 1742 establishments in Denmark Members of the International Council for Science Members of the International Science Council
Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...
Organizations based in Copenhagen Organizations based in Denmark with royal patronage Scientific organizations based in Denmark Scientific organizations established in 1742