This lecture will discuss aspects of German chemical organizations and chemical education in comparative global perspective from the beginning of the First World War to the reunification of Germany. It is intended to highlight broader trends of development in three periods: the First World War and the Weimar republic, 1914-1933; National Socialism and the Second World War, 1933-1945; and the era of the two German republics, 1945-1990. Considering each of these periods, the speaker will set forth for discussion some general questions about the interactions among the broader political, social, and economic contexts, both national and international, and the more specific scientific and professional developments in chemistry. These questions include: what were the overall patterns of membership in the principal German chemical organizations, considering nationality, ethnicity, social origins, and gender as well as disciplinary focus, and how did these change over time? How did the German chemical organizations interact with each other, as well as with chemical organizations outside the German context, and how did scientific as well as non-scientific factors affect these interactions? How did patterns of German chemical education develop in response to changing national and international contexts over time, and how did German educational institutions help to shape the social and scientific composition of German chemists as a group? To highlight what was characteristic in the German developments, they will at times be set against comparative trends in other leading scientific nations. In general, rather than offering definitive answers, the lecturer hopes to stimulate a productive discussion of these questions, based on his own and others’ ongoing research.
Dr. Gisela Boeck
Institut für Chemie