The ''Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft'' (Emergency Association of German Science) or NG was founded on 30 October 1920 on the initiative of leading members of the '' Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften'' (Prussian Academy of Sciences, PAW) – Fritz Haber, Max Planck, and

Ernst von Harnack Ernst Wolf Alexander Oskar Harnack (15 July 1888 – 5 March 1945), granted the title von Harnack in 1914, was an official of the Prussian provincial government, a German politician, and a German Resistance fighter. He was arrested, tried and ...

– and former Prussian Minister of Culture

Friedrich Schmidt-Ott Friedrich Gustav Adolf Eduard Ludwig Schmidt-Ott (until 1920 his surname was Schmidt) (4 June 1860, in Potsdam – 28 April 1956, in Berlin) was a German lawyer, scientific organizer, and science policymaker. He was the Prussian Minister of Cultu ...

. Physicist

Heinrich Konen Heinrich Matthias Konen (16 September 1874 in Cologne – 31 December 1948 in Bad Godesberg) was a German physicist who specialized in spectroscopy. He was a founder and organizer of the Emergency Association of German Science, and he was a me ...

, involved in founding and building the organization due to his relationship with Schmidt-Ott, became a long-standing member of its executive committee. Member institutions of the NG included all German universities, all polytechnics ('' Technische Hochschulen''), the five German Academies of Science, and the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft. In 1929, the NG was renamed the ''Deutsche Gemeinschaft zur Erhaltung und Förderung der Forschung'' (German Association for the Support and Advancement of Scientific Research); also known in short as the ''Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft'' (DFG). Until 1934, the NG acted under supervision of the ''Reichsinnenministerium'' (Reich Interior Ministry), and after that under the ''

Reichserziehungsministerium The Reich Ministry of Science, Education and Culture (german: , also unofficially known as the "Reich Education Ministry" (german: ), or "REM") existed from 1934 until 1945 under the leadership of Bernhard Rust and was responsible for unifying ...

'' (Reich Education Ministry). In 1945, by the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

in Germany, the NG was no longer active. In 1949, it was re-established in the newly founded Federal Republic of Germany as the NG and from 1951 as the DFG.Heilbron, 2000, pp. 90-92. The objective of the NG was to provide the regional, disciplinary, and political factions of the academic community with a central institution to facilitate raising and distributing funds for the totality of German sciences and humanities. Originally, it was to alleviate especially the increased financial needs after World War I due to monetary inflation and generally higher costs in research. As presiding secretary of the PAW, Planck briefly headed the NG until Schmidt-Ott was installed as president. The NG was successful in raising funds and support from the central German government as well as financial contributions from corporate sources in Germany and abroad.

Presidents of the NG/DFG

From 1949 to 1951, Walter Gerlach was a vice-president of the NG.Flachowsky, 2008, Appendix I; see the entry for Gerlach, p. 8.

Bibliography

*Flachowsky, Sören ''Von der Notgemeinschaft zum Reichsforschungsrat. Wissenschaftspolitik im Kontext von Autarkie, Aufrüstung und Krieg'' (Steiner, 2008) *Heilbron, J. L. ''The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science'' (Harvard, 2000) *Hentschel, Klaus, editor and Ann M. Hentschel, editorial assistant and Translator ''Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources'' (Birkhäuser, 1996) *Zierold, Kurt ''Forschungsförderung in drei Epochen. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: Geschichte, Arbeitsweise, Kommentar'' (Steiner, 1968)

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External links

* {{Italic title Scientific organizations established in 1920 Scientific organisations based in Germany