Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony

‘Fecundat et ornat’ – to bring forth and to adorn:

This was the guiding principle under which the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony was founded in 1751 by King George II of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover. 

As the oldest continuously existing institution of its kind in Germany, the Göttingen Academy can look back on a long and distinguished tradition. Its learned society has included such renowned members as Christoph Lichtenberg, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, the brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Carl Friedrich Gauss, and later Felix Klein, Otto Hahn, Albert Einstein, Friedrich Hund, Werner Heisenberg, and Manfred Eigen. More recently, three of its members have been honoured with the Nobel Prize: Erwin Neher, Bert Sakmann, and Stefan Hell. To date, the Academy counts 74 Nobel Prize laureates among its members.

Outstanding professors of the humanities, as well as the social and mathematical sciences, are elected as members of the Academy. With around 380 full and corresponding members, the Academy brings together a unique network of expertise – not only regionally, but worldwide.

The Academy is currently supervising 18 long-term projects of national and international standing, making it the leading non-university research institution for fundamental research in the humanities in Lower Saxony. Together with the other seven German Academies of Sciences in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Leipzig, Mainz, and Munich, it is part of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities. As a partner in the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) consortia, it is opening up new avenues for sustainable digital knowledge transfer through its Digital Academy. It also conducts research within its own, often interdisciplinary, commissions. Members present their findings in colloquia, at conferences, and through publications.

The Academy awards the Lichtenberg Medal – its highest distinction – to outstanding scholars who have made exceptional contributions to the public dissemination of science. It also promotes excellent scientific achievements by early-career researchers through prestigious awards and prizes in the natural and life sciences, as well as in the humanities and social sciences.

In addition, the Academy regularly engages with the public through lecture series, the annual Union Academy Day, and evening lectures held in venues such as the Lower Saxony Parliament, the Old City Hall of Göttingen, the Higher Regional Court of Celle, and elsewhere. In its ‘Akademie im Gespräch’ series, it addresses relevant contemporary issues in dialogue with the public.

Two scholarly societies are active in Lower Saxony: the Braunschweigische Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft (Braunschweig Scientific Society) and the Göttingen Academy of the Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony. With their distinct disciplinary profiles, they complement one another effectively. Their collaboration extends across commissions and research bodies, public events (for instance at the Phæno Science Center in Wolfsburg), joint excursions, and annual plenary sessions held alternately in Göttingen and Braunschweig.