+++ Attention, update! +++ 20 years of the "Herzog Ernst Scholarship Programme" in Gotha

The keynote speech will be given by former scholarship holder Professor Nils Güttler (Vienna). He will speak on the topic "After nature: Frankfurt Airport and the history of environmental knowledge". Gotha's Lord Mayor Knut Kreuch has also confirmed his attendance.

The "Herzog Ernst Scholarship Programme" in Gotha was initially funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and is currently supported by the Ernst Abbe Foundation Jena. Over the past 20 years, more than 400 scholarship holders have been able to explore and re-interrogate sources at the Gotha Research Library.

+++ Attention, update (16 May 2024) +++

Due to a short-term cancellation of the speaker Ass.-Professor Nils Güttler (Vienna) due to illness, another lecture will take place today at 5.15 pm at the event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Herzog Ernst Scholarship Programme: The multi-award-winning historian of science PD Dr Janina Wellmann will give a lecture entitled "In the year 1675 I discover'd living creatures in rain water. Liveliness and movement in the early modern period".

Since the beginning of scientific observation, movement has been regarded as a characteristic of life. Today, more than ever, movement is a central topic of basic biological research. In her latest book, Wellmann has rewritten the history of biology by tracing the thinking about living movement from Aristotle to the present day. In her lecture, she will focus on early modern observations of nature.

Wellmann studied in Hamburg, Berlin and Paris and received her doctorate in Berlin and Paris in a co-tutelle process. Research visits have taken her to Dartmouth, Cambridge, Vienna and Tel Aviv, among other places. Her books on the history of embryology and movement have also been translated into English. She is a private lecturer at the TU Berlin and currently a fellow at the Gotha Research Centre.