The Neuen Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen are the most important publication produced by the Göttingen Academy and follow a long and splendid tradition. From 1752 to 1842 the "Königliche Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften", as the Academy was then known, produced its Latin Commentarii and Commentationes, in which such reknowned scholars as Haller, Gesner, Blumenbach, Heyne and Gauß presented their work. Since 1842 the Academy has published the Abhandlungen in German, containing the results of work by members of the Academy, staff in the Academy's research projects and invited scholars. The publications are the product of a lecture and ensuing discussion at the Academy. On the whole the Neuen Abhandlungen will, just as its precessor the Abhandlungen , contain contributions from the entire field of the humanities.

This collection of essays on the history of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences since 1751 is emblemized by the motto inscribed on the Academy's seal: Fecundat et ornat It brings forth and it adorns. The contributors to this volume examine the relationship between the academy and the state from an institutional perspective and in the context of the history of science.

Autorentext

Kurt Schönhammer, Institut für Theoretische Physik, Göttingen; Christian Starck, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen.