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Science as a Medium of Communication between Germany and Russia in the 19th Century
Ortrun Riha
Karl Sudhoff Institut, Universitaet Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; riha@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
On September 29 — October 1 2010, the international conference “Science as a Medium of Communication between Germany and Russia in the 19th Century” gathered about 30 scholars from all over the world and some 20 local specialists to examine and discuss various historical aspects of these bilateral scientific relations. Based on a long-term project at the Saxon Academy of Science and Humanities, the organizers succeeded in composing a remarkably interdisciplinary program, covering numerous facets of history of science - social, cultural, educational, institutional and intellectual history and history of medicine, biology, chemistry, pharmacy, psychology and geography. Two key-note speakers opened up the horizons and provided a European contextualisation: In his introductory speech, Dietrich von Engelhardt (Luebeck) described the international exchange of ideas at the beginning of the 19th century with special reference to Italy, while Matthias Middell (Leipzig) gave an inspiring analysis of the discontinuities in the French-Russian scientific and economic relations.
The conference was opened with a warm welcome by the university principal Franz Haeuser, the vice-dean of the medical faculty Torsten Schoeneberg and the president of the Saxon Academy Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer. Preceding the special papers, vice-president Hei-ner Kaden outlined the long tradition of research in history of science at the Saxon Academy and the roots of the project on German-Russian scientific relations in the 19th century. The first section was then dedicated to psychology and psychiatry: Saulo de Freitas Araujo (Brazil) discussed Wilhelm Wundt’s influence on Vladimir M. Bechterev’s concept of scientific psychology, Florian Mildenberger (Frankfurt/Oder) described the obstacles Emil Kraepelin met during his years at Dorpat, and Susanne Guski-Leinwand (Heidelberg) delineated Alexander Netchaev’s experimental psychology. Natal’ja Ju. Masolikova (Moscow) had sent her paper on personal connections between members of the Russian psychological society and Leipzig University.
The second section dealt with hygiene as a new leading science in the 19th century, and the topic turned out to be one of the central points of interest during the conference. Florian Steger (Munich) addressed Max von Pettenkofer’s impact on the development of Public Health in Russia, Vladimir S. Sobolev (St. Petersburg) described the fight of the Russian naval forces against infectious diseases, and Konstantyn K. Vasylyev (Sumy) dealt with the role of German physicians in the history of the Odessa health resort. Lutz Haefner (Goettingen) illustrated the transfer of hygienic knowledge using the example of the Saratov medical society, and Bjoern Felder (Lueneburg) traced Evgeny Shepilevsky’s role in the Russian eugenics movement.
A third cluster of presentations pursued the scientific foundation of modern medicine. Vladimir A. Abashnik (Kharkov) revealed the connections between Emil Heinrich Du Bois-Reymond and the Kharkov medical faculty. Galina Kichigina (Toronto) outlined the importance of Karl Johann von Seidlitz concerning the implementation of physical examination in clinical practice. Erki Tammiksaar (Tartu) gave an introduction into Karl Ernst von Baer’s
way of thinking, while Anna Ananieva’s paper described the friendly relations between von Baer and the Leipzig publisher Leopold Voss. And, last but not least, the professionalisation of veterinary medicine was reflected in the St. Petersburg society of veterinarians (Natalia E. Beregoy, St. Petersburg).
The second day was opened by a section on chemistry. Protagonists of scientific transfer were Friedrich Konrad Beilstein (Elena Roussanova, Hamburg), Gustav von Bunge (Regine and Gerd Pfrepper, Leipzig), Ivan S. Plotnikov (Elena A. Zaitseva, Moscow) and Vladimir I. Vernadsky (Marina Ju. Sorokina, Moscow), complemented by Gisela Boeck’s (Rostock) observations to the use of the periodic table in school instruction. The zoological section included Thomas Schmuck’s (Leipzig) approach to Christian Heinrich Pander’s reflections on metamorphosis and evolution and Eduard I. Kochinsky’s (St. Petersburg) tracking the German influence on Russian evolutionism. Nadezhda V. Slepkova (St. Petersburg) addressed the conflicts between the “Russian” and the “German” parties at the Imperial Academy of Science using the example of the zoological museum, while Sergei I. Fokin (St. Petersburg) described Otto Buetschli’s key role in the development of Russian zoology. Within the section on pharmacy and botany, Christoph Friedrich (Marburg) gave a general view of German apothecaries in Russia in the 19th century, and Anastasia A. Fedotova depicted the rise of plant geography.
A panel on prosopography concluded the conference, bringing up work in progress for discussion: Vladimir A. Volkov and Marina V. Kulikova (Moscow) had sent a paper on their biographical encyclopedia of the professors in the Russian czardom, Marta Fischer (Leipzig) presented the conception of a biobibliographical encyclopedia of the German-Russian scientific relations, and Daniela Angetter (Vienna) discussed a research project on the history of medicine and pharmacy at Lviv university.
Without a doubt, the conference opened chances for international cooperation and provided opportunities for interdisciplinary communication. Added together, an admirably huge amount of facts was compiled, thus encouraging further research. In comparison with the richness of detail, analyses and general conclusions were underrepresented, so it will be up to the editor of the conference proceedings to work out a common thread, to consider the results and to comment on the implications.
Наука как коммуникативное пространство между Германией и Россией в XIX веке
Ортрун Риа
Институт Карла Зюдхоффа, Лейпцигский Университет, Лейпциг, Германия; riha@medizin.uni-leipzig.de
Конференция состоялась в стенах Лейпцигского университета 29 сентября —
1 октября 2010 года и собрала около 30 ученых со всего мира и около 20 местных специалистов по изучению различных исторических аспектов этих двусторонних научных связей. На основании долгосрочного проекта Саксонской академии наук организаторам удалось собрать конференцию, на которой была представлена междисциплинарная программа, охватывающая многочисленные аспекты истории
науки — социальной, культурной, образовательной, институциональных и интеллектуальной истории и истории медицины, биологии, химии, фармации, психологии и географии. Вступительную речь произнес Франц Хойзер, вице-декан медицинского факультета Саксонской академии. Два последующих дня были разбиты на несколько объединенных общей темой сессий. Без сомнений, эта конференция открыла новые горизонты дальнейшему международному сотрудничеству и междисциплинарному общению.
Historiae Scientiarum Baltica, 2010
MaitTalts, Mall Kulasalu
Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia;
Mait.Talts@tseba.ttu.ee, Mall.Kulasalu@tseba.ttu.ee
In the fall of 2010, on 8-9 October the 24th International Baltic Conference on the History of Science was held in the new building of the Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration and the Faculty of Social Sciences of Tallinn University of Technology (at 3 Akadeemia tee, Tallinn). Conferences on the history of science have been held, usually in every two years, in one of the Baltic States for more than 50 years, and it is hard to overestimate the importance of these conferences in uniting the Baltic science historians. The First Baltic Conference on the History of Science was summoned in Riga under the leadership of a well-known Latvian physician and medical historian Professor Pauls Stradins already in 1958. It was the period of the so-called Khrushchev Thaw which enabled such initiatives. Up to the present day, in addition to Riga, conferences on history of science have been held mainly in Vilnius, Lithuania, and Tartu, Estonia; in parallel with Riga sometimes also in Jelgava and Jurmala. When the conferences have been held in Lithuania, it has been a common practice to run the section of the history of medicine in Kaunas. In Estonia the conference has been held for 8 times, and up to the present Tartu University has been the only organiser, primarily owing to the fact that the majority of Estonian science historians reside in Tartu. Now, for the first time, the conference was organised in Tallinn, and hosted by Tallinn University of Technology (TUT). Under these circumstances the main practical arrangements related to the conference became the responsibility of TUT Department of International Relations, first of all due to the fact that the head of the Department, a distinguished philosopher of science, Prof. Peeter Muursepp served as a head of the conference’s organising committee.
Over the past two decades the Baltic conferences on the history have been summoned by the Baltic Association of the History and Philosophy of Science (BAHPS)2. Actually, any particular conference is organised under the leadership of the relevant national union
2 Stradins J. Twenty Years of the Association of the History and Philosophy of Science of the Baltic States // Historiae Scientiarum Baltica 2010: Tallinn, October 8-9, 2010: Abstracts ofXXIV International Baltic Conference of the History of Science. Tallinn: Department of International Relations, Tallinn University of Technology, 2010. P. 10-11; see also http://www.bahps.org/
