The Prussian Academy of Sciences and Humanities During the Weimar Republic

The German Revolution of November 1918 dramatically altered the Academys view of its relationship with government. In particular, the Academys Prussian tradition had to be rethought. From initial wariness to grudging acceptance, the Academy came to accept the Weimar regime. This paper studies the politics of the Academy, uncovers factions and fault lines amongst its members, and offers a fresh interpretation on the Academys relationship with Albert Einstein.     

Paul Abraham: A Forgotten Scholar of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Paul Abraham, one of the Berlin Academys most experienced researchers, was deported to Auschwitz in 1943. The fate of this Jewish scholar reveals much about the inner life of the Academy, and its treatment of Jewish staff, during the World War II. This paper describes his life, against a backdrop of war, revolution, and dictatorship, and in the context of one of the Academys most prestigious projects.     

The Academy and the Engineering Sciences: An Unwelcome Royal Gift

On 19 March 1900, at the bicentenary celebrations of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, Kaiser Wilhelm II established three new fellowships in engineering sciences. This was in many aspects an unwanted gift, and one which tested the Academys relationship between pure and applied science. In the context of contemporary struggles between traditional and modern knowledge, this paper shows how the Academy confronted the newly emerging engineering sciences, and how it resolved a potential challenge in ways that ensured its continuing autonomy.     

寻访鹿门书院

历来有尊师重教传统的浙江大地曾有不少古书院,但历史悠久且又保存完整的并不多见。不久前笔者陪同北京前来专访鹿门书院的文友来到浙江嵊州,深感这座书院历史久远但维护得相当不错。车到嵊州鹿门,斜阳似一轮光亮柔和的大红灯笼悬挂在清气盈盈的天幕上,光流透过苍松翠柏,浓浓淡     

The Russian Academy of sciences and the Soviet Academy of sciences: Continuity or disjunction?

Conclusion Although the Russian Academy has not been operating long enough to permit a categorical statement that it will act exactly as the Soviet Academy did, there is now enough information to justify stating that in its structure and stated functions it differs in no significant way from the Soviet Academy which it replaced. While it might well have been weakened, through a decline in its own prestige and through the weakening of the government under which it operates, it is unlikely to be so weakened that it will allow either the democrats and rank-and-file research workers on the one hand, or the new bureaucratic arrangements on the other to get the better of it. While the desperate budgetary situation will almost certainly force the Russian Academy into considerable retrenchment in its research activities, it will continue to be a body of bureaucratically organised and experienced managers of science and will conduct itself accordingly. Those who believe that a high level of participation by the rank-and-file of the staff is essential in the management of science, will see that as a catastrophe for Russian science. Those who believe that particularly in times of stress, bureaucratic skill and experience are of great importance will see it as providing some hope of salvation.     

Honest Evaluation in the Academy

Minerva - Honesty is widely understood as an ethical imperative in science and scholarship. This article examines the operation of this ethic in an area crucial to academe but which has not...     

历代万松书院掠影

金秋十月,杭州市政府斥巨资重建的万松书院,在杭州凤凰山东麓正式落成对外开放。 重建万松书院是杭州市政府开发凤凰山周边旅游区的一个序曲:今后万松书院将与它东面的南宋皇城遗址文化公园、南面的吴越文化旅游区连成一片,成为杭城的一个地域特点鲜明、文化底蕴深厚的旅游新亮点。     

Changing Governance and Authority Relations in the Public Sciences

Major changes in the governance of higher education and the public sciences have taken place over the past 40 or so years in many OECD countries. These have affected the nature of authority relationships governing research priorities and the evaluation of results. In particular, the increasing exogeneity, formalisation and substantive nature of governance mechanisms, as well as the strength and extent of their enforcement, have altered the relative authority of different groups and organisations over research priorities and evaluations, as well as creating some new ones. These shifts in authority have occurred to different degrees in differently organised public science systems. As a result, the diversity and longevity of many research projects, the intensity of competition for disciplinary reputations and the coordination of research goals and outcomes across universities and national boundaries have changed to different degrees in different countries.     

书画名家的摇篮——中国美院八十年成就斐然

4月2日,在中国美院80周年华诞新闻发布会上,中国美术学院院长许江说:"中国美术学院80年的发展历程,与国家和民族的命运始终紧密相连.""80年来,中国美术学院始终站在时代艺术的前沿,饱含振兴民族艺术的历史使命感和责任感,充满了与世界艺术积极对话的理性精神,对中国当代视觉文化艺术的创新和拓展形成重要的影响."……