GERMANY: Leopoldina given National Academy status

Europe's oldest academy for medicine and natural sciences, the Leopoldina, has become Germany's first National Academy of Sciences. It was officially awarded this status, putting it on a par with Britain's Royal Society or France's Académie des Sciences, at a ceremony in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, on 14 July.

The ceremony was attended by Germany's Federal President Horst Köhler, Federal Education and Research Minister Annette Schavan, and Saxony-Anhalt's Chief Minister Wolfgang Böhmer. Founded in Schweinfurt in 1652, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina now has around 1,300 members all over the world, including 32 Nobel Prize-winners.

It maintains a network with scientific institutions of other European countries, organises national and international meetings and symposia and issues statements and recommendations. Its chief tasks are to counsel national and international parliaments and bodies on scientific matters and to promote young scientists.

The Leopoldina moved to Halle, in what was later to become the German Democratic Republic, in 1878. While German partition put a severe strain on the institution, it managed to maintain a level of academic autonomy as well as an all-German and international orientation.

It will cooperate closely with the German Academy of Technology in Munich and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in Berlin. A coordinating committee will be set up with these two institutions to identify counselling topics and to form corresponding working groups.

Speaking at the appointment ceremony, Schavan said that unlike other European countries or the US, Germany had not had any institutions to produce evidence-based statements as a basis for discussions and political decisions. The Leopoldina's President, Volker ter Meulen, mentioned climate change, energy, food, health and education in the 21st century as possible future topics.

Additional funding in its new official role to the tune of EUR2.5 million will be provided by the federal government (80%) and the government of Saxony-Anhalt. Federal President Köhler has assumed patronage.

Michael.gardner@uw-news.com