Urania (Berlin)

The Urania Berlin Society was founded in 1888, with the aim of also make available to a lay audience to scientific knowledge.

Prehistory

The first impulse was 1827/28 Alexander von Humboldt with his public " Kosmos lectures " in the former building of the Berlin Sing- Akademie, immediately adjacent to the University of Berlin located (now Humboldt University of Berlin). Humboldt turned to his scientific lectures to large population groups - among his listeners there were both artisans and members of the court, including the king Friedrich Wilhelm III. - And so supplemented the national pedagogical intentions of his brother Wilhelm von Humboldt. The astronomer Wilhelm Foerster, former student of Alexander von Humboldt and later director of the Berlin Observatory, continued the approach of his teacher. Together with the had moved from Vienna astronomer Max Wilhelm Meyer, who had already pursued similar plans in the Danube city he wanted a fixed base, which should be permanently adapted to a lay audience almost bring a wealth of knowledge. The two respected scholars could win prominent backers for their project, including the industrialist Werner von Siemens.

History of Urania

Concept

The initial concept was based on a novel institution, which from an observatory - should you be, from scientific and technical exhibitions and a scientific theater - the first public observatory in the world. With a donation capital of 205,000 marks, then a very considerable sum, was on March 3, 1888, the " Urania Society " was founded as a public limited company. It got its name after the Muse Urania, which was regarded as the patron goddess of astronomy in Greek mythology. Task of the new facility, formulated in the articles of incorporation, was "spreading the joy of the knowledge of nature ." The first building of the Urania was built on the road disability and inaugurated on 1 July 1889.

Special attractions were the Departments of Astronomy, Physics and microscopy. The new deal where visitors could for the first time playfully participate in various experiments, caused great interest. In the first year of operation, already 98,000 visitors, six years later, there were 178,000 came. The successful concept was acquired at home and abroad, it was quickly followed up clubs for example in Magdeburg, Hamburg, Kassel, Jena, Chemnitz, Prague, Budapest, Graz and Vienna.

Observatory

The main instrument for the observatory Urania built in 1889 the company of Carl Bamberg a 12- inch refractor, which was handed over to the end of December to the public the same year. At that time, the so-called Bamberg refractor with its opening of 314 mm and a focal length of 5 meters, the largest telescope in Prussia and after the Strasbourg refractor is the second largest in the German Reich. With it, the active in the establishment astronomer Gustav Witt discovered the asteroid Eros and Berolinahaus. The Urania received from the Minor Planet Center observatory code 537 was the first astronomer of the Urania Observatory was since 1889 Friedrich Simon Archenhold busy and worked there from 1894 to 1899 Hans Bruno Biirgel.

Impact of War

A difficult phase had to be endured in the late 1920s during the two world wars and the intervening Great Depression; all activities were severely limited at this time. The Bamberg refractor in 1951 broken down in the Urania building destroyed and sent to the Papestraße the Wilhelm -Foerster -Sternwarte. In 1953, the Urania was re-established as a registered association and started its activity in the premises of the Technical University of Berlin. For feed attended readings of famous writers such as Heinrich Böll, Max Frisch and Günter Grass. In programming, the fields of art and entertainment were now more involved. Since 1962, the Urania is based in Berlin -Schöneberg near the Wittenberg place.

In 1954, the company had been called to the dissemination of scientific knowledge into life in East Berlin, in 1966 received the additional title Urania. , Their impact was primarily the territory of the GDR. After German reunification emerged from it in the new Länder various local associations, in 1991 the " German Association New Urania " founded.

The Urania today

As of today (2012 ) the club has " Urania Berlin eV" over 2000 members, it is one of the largest voluntary organizations in Berlin. It is mainly funded by its members, including large companies, universities and scientific institutes. About 20 employees plan and implement the various programs. Advisory of trustees, which includes among others, the President of the universities in Berlin, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the Helmholtz Association.

For visitors of all ages events are offered. The program includes understandable lectures on current issues in the natural and social sciences, panel discussions and artistic performances, meetings, conventions and trade shows. With two modern equipped cinemas is the Urania one of the largest cinemas in Berlin. In the foyer exhibitions on various topics. Approximately 200,000 visitors annually take part in some 1,300 events.