The Chemical Society of the GDR

online lecture by Renate Kießling on November 12, 2024, 3 p.m.

Moderation: Eva Wille

The history of the German Chemical Society is well researched. There are also works on the history of the GDCh. In contrast, very little is known about the development of the Chemical Society of the GDR (called CG), which was founded in 1953 and existed for just over 35 years.

In 2013, I gave a talk at the annual conference of the GDCh's " history of chemistry " Division on the founding history of the Chemical Society of the GDR, one of the largest scientific societies in the GDR. This was followed by two publications (1). In another lecture at the 2017 Conference , I presented further developments, focusing specifically on the differences in activities between the CG and the GDCh.

In 1990, the Chemical Society of the GDR dissolved and most of its members joined the GDCh. This process was also reported on. The 2017 lecture resulted in a publication that examines the individual points in more detail and contains a lot of statistical material.

Issue 10/2017, page 1019, of “Nachrichten aus der Chemie” contains the article “Chemistry history behind the wall” by Brigitte Osterath, which was also written with information from me. Issue 12/2021 of “Nachrichten aus der Chemie” reported on the dissolution of the CG (2).

(1) Nachrichten aus der Chemie, Issue 12/2013, page 126; Mitteilungen der FG history of chemistry, Volume 23 (2013), page 145 ff.

(2) Communications of the FG history of chemistry, Volume 26 (2020), page 251 ff; Nachrichten aus der Chemie, Issue 12/2021, pages 22-25