Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft
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Notgemeinschaft der Deutschen Wissenschaft (abbreviation: NG; translation: Emergency Association of German Science) was founded on 30 October 1920 on the initiative of leading members of the Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (acronym: PAW; translation: Prussian Academy of Sciences.) – Fritz Haber, Max Planck, and Ernst von Harnack – and the former Preußischen Kultusminister Friedrich Schmidt-Ott. Members of the NG included all German universities, all polytechnics (Technische Hochschulen), the five scientific academies, and the Kaiser-Wilhelm Gesellschaft. Until 1934 the NG was under the supervision of the Reichsinnenministerium (acronym: RIM; translation: Reich Interior Ministry.), and after that under the Reichserziehungsministerium (acronym: REM; translation: Reich Education Ministry.).¹ In 1937 it was renamed the Deutsche Gemeinschaft zur Erhaltung und Förderrung der Forschung (German Association for the Support and Advancement of Scientific Research); also known in short as the Deutsche Forschungs-Gemeinschaft (abbreviation: DFG). By the end of World War II in Germany, in 1945, the NG was no longer active. In 1949, after formation of the Deutsche Bundesrepublik, it was re-founded as the NG and from 1951 as the DFG.^{2 3}

The formation of the NG was to unify regional, disciplinary, and political factions into a single organization in order to raise funds for the needs of the totality of German sciences. As presiding secretary of the PAW, Planck briefly headed the NG until Schmidt-Ott was installed as president. The NG was successful in raising money and support from the central German government as well as money from German Industry and abroad.⁴

Presidents of the NG/DFG:⁵

• 1920 – 1934: Friedrich Schmidt-Ott

• 1934 – 1936: Johannes Stark

• 1936 – 1939: Rudolf Mentzel

• 1939 – 1945: Abraham Esau

Walter Gerlach was a vice-president of the DFG from 1949 to 1961.⁶

Bibliography

• Heilbron, J. L. The Dilemmas of an Upright Man: Max Planck and the Fortunes of German Science (Harvard, 2000) ISBN 0-674-00439-6

• Hentschel, Klaus, editor and Ann M. Hentschel, editorial assistant and Translator Physics and National Socialism: An Anthology of Primary Sources (Birkhäuser, 1996)

Notes