The Gesellschaft zur Verbreitung wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse (Society for the dissemination of scientific knowledge) was an association, founded 17 June 1954 in the Cultural Centre of the VEB Oberspree cable factory in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

, which existed until 1990 in the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(GDR), and whose objective was to enlighten the GDR population, particularly in the fields of science, technology, medicine, economics and other areas of social sciences. From January 1966, it had the alternate name Urania, which was often used as a nickname. The founding President was the botanist

Werner Rothmaler Werner Walter Hugo Paul Rothmaler (born 20 August 1908 in Sangerhausen, died 13 April 1962 in Leipzig) was a German botanist and from 1953 until 1962 head of the Institute for Agricultural Biology of the University of Greifswald. His areas of exper ...

. In his opening address he referred the long-established and valuable traditions of the popularization of science and technology and mentioned as forerunners

Ernst Moritz Arndt Ernst Moritz Arndt (26 December 1769 – 29 January 1860) was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Swed ...

, the

brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (; ; 16 February 1834 – 9 August 1919) was a German zoologist, natural history, naturalist, eugenics, eugenicist, Philosophy, philosopher, physician, professor, marine biology, marine biologist and artist ...

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

Robert Koch Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch ( ; ; 11 December 1843 – 27 May 1910) was a German physician and microbiologist. As the discoverer of the specific causative agents of deadly infectious diseases including tuberculosis, cholera and anthrax, he i ...

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.DT64, for example, under the headings "Urania" and "New TV Urania". In addition, it published popular scientific journals and was training provider for school staffs. It also organized lectures, panel discussions and individual events on relevant topics. Thus it took over important tasks of the community colleges in the GDR. The main publications of the associated Urania-Verlag, which was based first in Berlin and in 1963 in Leipzig, were the series "Urania universe", the magazine "Wissen und Leben" ("knowledge and life") as well as the magazine "Urania", published jointly with the

Cultural Association of the GDR The Cultural Association of the GDR (, KB) was a federation of local clubs in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It formed part of the Socialist Unity Party-led National Front, and sent representatives to the Volkskammer. The association had ...

. After the political changes of 1989 and the

reunification of Germany German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic and the integration of i ...

, a number of local Urania associations in the former East Germany emerged from the society, and in 1991 they established the "Association of New Urania".

References

{{Authority control 1954 establishments in East Germany Organizations established in 1954 Scientific organisations based in East Germany

See also

References