German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

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The German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (or Leopoldina for short) (Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina) is currently located in Halle and claims ^{1, p. 5} to have enjoyed the longest continuous existence of any current scientific society. The asteroid 893 Leopoldina is named in its honour.

[edit] History

The Leopoldina was founded in the city of Schweinfurt on January 1, 1652 by four physicians, namely Johann Laurentius Bausch, first president of the society, Johann Michael Fehr, Georg Balthasar Metzger, and Georg Balthasar Wohlfarth, under the name Academia Naturae Curiosorum. In 1670 the society began to publish the Ephemeriden, the world's first medical and scientific journal. In 1677, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I recognised the society, and in 1687 he gave it the epithet Leopoldina.^{1, p. 7–8, 2}

At first, the society conducted its business by correspondence and was located wherever the president was working. It was not permanently located in Halle until 1878 and did not meet regularly until 1924.^{1, p. 8–9} At the end of World War II, the Academy fell into the Soviet zone and became the Akademie der Wissenchaften der DDR [1]. In 1991, after German reunification, the Leopoldina was given legal nonprofit status and is now funded jointly by the German federal and Saxony state governments.^{1, p. 10–14}

[edit] Current activities

At present, the Leopoldina gives conferences and lectures, continues to publish the Ephemeriden (now under the name Nova Acta Leopoldina), issues various medals and awards, gives grants, and elects new members to itself, claimed to be chosen on the basis of scientific excellence. It also researches its own history and publishes another journal, Acta Historica Leopoldina, devoted to this subject.^{1, p. 15–33}