In the year 2010, five of the oldest and internationally best-known scientific institutions are celebrating their anniversaries. Under the slogan “Berlin – Capital of Science”, all scientific institutions in the city - in addition to those celebrating anniversaries - are invited to take part with their own events this year. The aim is not only to present Berlin as a scientific location of the past, present and future but also to raise awareness for the significance of science, research, freedom of thought and curiosity above and beyond the confines of academic life. Our daily life and our prosperity are not possible without science and research.
Having said that, the scientific society in which we live is not new. It has existed since the beginnings of human culture. Babylon, Athens, Alexandria and Rome are former powerful scientific societies. Today, those places are San Francisco, London and Paris. Berlin has a long tradition too as a city of science, experiencing its golden age in the 18th, 19th and at the beginning of the 20th centuries. All the disciplines in natural sciences, art, culture, economics and politics had a part in this development. Berlin became “Athens on the Spree”. Names such as Leibniz, Frederick the Great, Humboldt, Schinkel, Hegel, Virchow, Helmholtz, Koch, Planck and Einstein are closely associated with Berlin.
In the year 2010, it will be a matter of making these traditions and the creative powers of scientific knowledge in all areas of life more noticeable. For every age and life situation, scientific thinking and action must be illustrated. It is only then that science can be related to society and society to life. Forms of scientific debate such as discussion, disputes and controversies are already democratic forms of action in a scientific society.
Joint celebration and friendly get-togethers do not hinder us in dealing with ourselves in a thoughtful, critical and self-critical way, in the past and also the future. Science lost its innocence when it became an instrument of evil. Physicians, chemists, doctors and representatives of other professions too were not spared the perversion of human experiment and invention. Even the humanities, who supply demagogues and dictators with their arguments, were and can be deadly. This is unfortunately not new. Especially in Berlin, we do not want to forget this and are called upon to in a unique way to regard science as a responsibility of the entire world community.
As generalised as these demands are formulated, they have to be broken down into the concrete situations and possibilities that Berlin has as a scientific location. The spectrum of scientific themes is related to society’s demands as well as each individual’s daily life. Various sciences, event organisers, types of event and target groups will convene to cover seven theme areas. The theme areas which are important for Berlin are: medicine and health, living worlds and micro-systems, energy and climate, transport and mobility, language and communication, culture and societies, the scientific society and education.
Within these thematic contexts, the content of the Berlin Year of Science will be developed. They will foster relations beyond the area of science to the public and to representatives of all cultural divisions.
For information on events on these themes, there will by a joint internet portal and a touring exhibition in addition to the two six-monthly programmes. Berlin would like to be discovered by its guests and its own citizens in a new way in the year 2010.
Prof. Dr. Detlev Ganten | Moritz van Dülmen |
