The Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin is a German-speaking association of scientists founded in Berlin in 1993 in the legal form of a registered association. It is dedicated to

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

and

transdisciplinary Transdisciplinarity is an approach that iteratively interweaves knowledge systems, skills, methodologies, values and fields of expertise within inclusive and innovative collaborations that bridge academic disciplines and community perspectives, ...

exchange and the discussion of fundamental problems in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

and

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

. In its self-image, it is ‘an association of outstanding natural scientists, scholars in the humanities, social scientists and technicians working according to the classical principle of the European academies’ The association continues the activities of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR with personnel continuity.

History of origin

The Leibniz-Sozietät was constituted in its current legal form on April 15, 1993, as a registered non-profit association. The Leibniz-Sozietät bears its name in memory of

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (or Leibnitz; – 14 November 1716) was a German polymath active as a mathematician, philosopher, scientist and diplomat who is credited, alongside Sir Isaac Newton, with the creation of calculus in addition to ...

as the initiator and first president of the Electoral Brandenburg Society of Sciences founded in 1700, who developed the

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

in close cooperation with Daniel Ernst Jablonski as vice-president (later president; namesake of a medal of the Leibniz-Sozietät). This society gave rise to the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, which had various names. The best-known include Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles-Lettres (from 1746), Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften (up to 1945), Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin (DAW, 1946-1972 and Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR (AdW, 1972–1991). With the Unification Treaty of 1990, the Academy of Sciences of the GDR as a learned society was separated from the research institutes and other institutions and dissolved in 1992. The research institutes and institutions existed as institutions of the federal states until December 31, 1991, unless they had previously been dissolved or converted. According to the Unification Treaty, the decision as to how the learned society was to be continued was to be made under state law. The Berlin Senate Department for Science and Research decided that the learned society of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR was not to be regarded as the bearer of the tradition of the Berlin Academy, that a future Academy of Sciences in Berlin could not build on this institution and that a new constitution was unavoidable. The

Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities The Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (), abbreviated BBAW, is the official academic society for the natural sciences and humanities for the German states of Berlin and Brandenburg. Housed in three locations in and around Ber ...

(BBAW) was therefore constituted on March 28, 1993. Following the State Treaty on the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities of 1992, this academy took over the assets and infrastructural facilities (library, archive, curatorship) of the scholarly society of the former Academy of Sciences and Humanities of the GDR and continued its long-term and editorial projects. At the time of

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, the Academy of Sciences of the GDR had around 400 members in its learned society. 122 former members of the AdW, who were not accepted by the newly founded BBAW, founded the registered association Leibniz-Sozietät e. V. (from 2007 Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin e. V.) on April 15, 1993. Through the annual election of new members, the number of members has increased to over 300, which has also changed its structure. The association is funded by contributions, donations and grants from its members. It sees itself as a successor organisation to the scholarly society of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. There is an ongoing controversy as to whether the Leibniz-Sozietät or the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities should be regarded as the legitimate successor organization to the Societät der Wissenschaften, which was founded in 1700. The Leibniz-Sozietät refers to the continuity of personnel, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities to the political mandate.

Purpose

The Leibniz-Sozietät is a free association of

natural Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the laws, elements and phenomena of the physical world, including life. Although humans are part ...

and technical scientists,

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

s as well as scholars in

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

social scientist Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

s. It is linked to the Brandenburgische Sozietät der Wissenschaften (Brandenburg Society of Sciences and Humanities) through its members and their scientific work, which has been uninterrupted for centuries. The society builds on the independent research of its members and offers a forum for discussion and publicity. In particular, the members and guests foster interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discourse as well as the discussion of current fundamental problems of science and society. Through its work, the Society strives to make an appropriate contribution to intellectual life in present times. The purpose of the Leibniz-Sozietät is to cultivate and promote the sciences in the tradition of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and the public interest. To this end, the Leibniz-Sozietät organises its scientific events to present the scientific results of its members and guests, in particular for interdisciplinary discussion at a high scientific level. All scientific events of the Leibniz-Sozietät are open to the public. The elected members of the Leibniz-Sozietät also carry out joint research projects with friends and guests of the Leibniz-Sozietät. In this context, graduation theses and other forms of results can be supervised, presented for scientific discussion and published. Through all its activities, the Leibniz-Sozietät selflessly promotes the general public in the intellectual field. It represents and defends science against all anti-scientific endeavours. The Leibniz-Sozietät reports publicly on its activities on the traditional “Leibniz Day” every year. The Leibniz-Sozietät also publishes two scientific publication series as well as an online

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

and online communications.

Events

The members of the Leibniz-Sozietät gather monthly for public meetings, at which scientific lectures are held and discussed, and they organise the yearly “Leibniz Day” close to the birthday of G. W. Leibniz on 1 July, which had already been established in the academy's statute of 1812 and which also serves as a public accountability event. The meetings of the Sozietät take place as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary events in the two classes “Natural and Technical Sciences”, which also includes mathematics and life sciences/medicine, as well as “Social Sciences and Humanities” and in the “Plenum”. In addition, scientific colloquia, conferences and other scientific events with international participation are held. In ten working groups, the members, together with other specialist colleagues and young scientists, deal with central issues of science and society. The working groups are particularly active in the following areas: History of Science and Academia,

Pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

, Social Analysis and Classes,

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

and

Environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

and Astro Sciences, Principle of Simplicity,

Vormärz ' (; English: ''pre-March'') was a period in the history of Germany preceding the 1848 March Revolution in the states of the German Confederation. The beginning of the period is less well-defined. Some place the starting point directly after ...

and

1848 Revolution The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

Research, Tolerance, Time and

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

, General Technology and Emergent Systems,

Information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

and

Society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

. The results achieved, together with their public discussion, also provide suggestions for future scientific strategy and for shaping policy and society. In order to initiate and promote “interdisciplinary or cross-disciplinary projects”, the Leibniz-Sozietät works together with other scientific institutions in Germany and abroad, usually on the basis of agreements of cooperation.

Publications

Since 1994, the Leibniz-Sozietät has published its findings in the Leibniz-Sozietät's meeting reports and, since 1999, also in the Abhandlungen der Leibniz-Sozietät (

Mémoire In French culture, the word ''mémoire'', as in une mémoire ("a memory" – indefinite article), reflects the writer's own experiences and memories. The word has no direct English translation. Up to the 18th century The word appeared in the cours ...

s of the Leibniz Society) series; both are published by trafo Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin. The proceedings and all issues of Leibniz Online are available for download from the Leibniz-Sozietät website and have a DOI. The volumes of the proceedings are listed and occasionally provided with details of the authors and content. Meetings, colloquia and other events are announced and prepared by the publication of materials and full texts.

Members

In 1993, 122 former members of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR founded the Leibniz-Sozietät e. V. association (since 2007 Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin e. V.). On December 31, 2023, the number of members was 299, 45 of whom were previously members of the GDR Academy. All other members have been elected by

co-option Co-option, also known as co-optation and sometimes spelt cooption or cooptation, is a term with three common meanings. It may refer to: 1) The process of adding members to an elite Social group, group at the discretion of members of the body, us ...

since 1994. The Leibniz-Sozietät accepts members from all countries.

Honorary Members

* Abdusalam Gusejnow (Moskau) *

Sigmund Jähn Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German Aircraft pilot, pilot, cosmonaut, and ''Generalmajor#Generalmajor in East Germany, Generalmajor'' (equivalent to a Brigadier General in Western armies) in the Nat ...

* Georg Katzer * Hiroshi Kawai (Japan) * Werner Zorn

Presidium

Presidents: * 1993–1998 Samuel Mitja Rapoport * 1998–2006 Herbert Hörz, seit 2009 Ehrenpräsident * 2006–2012 Dieter B. Herrmann * 2012–2019 Gerhard Banse * 2019–2020 Rainer E. Zimmermann * seit 2021 Gerda Haßler The Vice Presidents are Wolfgang Methling and Dorothee Röseberg. The secretaries are Jochen Fleischhacker and Gerhard Pfaff. The treasurer is Heinz-Jürgen Rothe, the head of the office is the chemist Klaus Buttker.

Awards

The Leibniz-Sozietät awards the following honors and prizes: * Ehrenmitglied der Leibniz-Sozietät * Ehrenurkunde der Leibniz-Sozietät * Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Medaille * Daniel-Ernst-Jablonski-Medaille * Samuel-Mitja-Rapoport-Kooperationspreis

Funding

The Leibniz-Sozietät is funded by membership fees, a foundation of the Friends of the Leibniz-Sozietät e. V. as well as grants and donations. Since 2004, it has received state funding from the Berlin Senate Department for Economics, Technology and Research.

External links

Web site of the Leibniz-Sozietät der Wissenschaften zu Berlin

References

{{Authority control 1700 establishments in Prussia Scientific organizations established in 1993 Scientific organisations based in Berlin Scientific societies