Online lecture by Renate Kiessling on 12 November 2024, 3 pm

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 presentation on the founding history of the Chemical Society of the GDR, one of the largest scientific societies in the GDR, at the annual meeting of the GDCh's "History of Chemistry" section. This was followed by two publications (1). In a further lecture at the 2017 conference, I presented the further development, with a special focus on the differences in the 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.

Edition 10/2017, page 1019, of "Nachrichten aus Chemie" contains the article "Chemiegeschichte hinter der Mauer" by Brigitte Osterath, which was also written with information from me. The dissolution of the CG was reported in issue 12/2021 of "Nachrichten aus der Chemie" (2).

(1) Nachrichten aus der Chemie, issue 12/2013, page 126; Mitteilungen der FG Geschichte der Chemie, vol. 23 (2013), page 145 ff.

(2) Mitteilungen der FG Geschichte der Chemie, vol. 26 (2020), page 251 ff; Nachrichten aus der Chemie, issue 12/2021, page 22-25