Biological Stations around 1900:
Organisational Forms, Practices and Paradigms of ‘Localized Internationality’

Place: 1010 Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences | Collegium | Bäckerstraße 13, Erdgeschoss, Seminarraum 1
Date: 4–5 April, 2024
Organizer: Ignaz-Lieben-Gesellschaft, Vienna | Austrian Academy of Sciences | Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
No registration required

Concept:
Fabio De Sio (Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)
Heiner Fangerau (Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany)
Johannes Feichtinger (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria; Ignaz-Lieben-Gesellschaft, Vienna, Austria)
Karen Kastenhofer (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria; Ignaz-Lieben-Gesellschaft, Vienna, Austria)
Wolfgang L. Reiter (University of Vienna, Austria; Ignaz-Lieben-Gesellschaft, Vienna, Austria)

Conference theme:
No less than three biological stations had their origins in the Habsburg Monarchy: the Imperial and Royal Zoological Station Trieste, founded in 1875 with a focus on marine biology; the Biological Experimental Station in Vienna, founded in 1902 with a focus on experimental evolutionary biology; and the Lunz Biological Station, founded in 1905 with a focus on fresh water biology. As much as these three foundations shared a specific historical and geopolitical context, their concrete founding histories, organisational forms, disciplinary orientations and everyday practices differed. Both, these similarities and differences, determined their role and function in local, national and international scientific and non-scientific contexts.

Moreover, the three stations of the Habsburg Monarchy were not the only early foundations dedicated to biological field work: around 1900, a veritable wave of such foundations could be witnessed throughout Europe, first with a marine biology orientation, and somewhat later with a limnology orientation. The paradigmatic Stazione Zoologica di Napoli has been established by Anton Dohrn in 1873 in Italy, the Station Biologique de Roscoff in 1872 in France, the Laboratory of the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth in 1888 in England, the Laboratorium für Internationale Meeresforschung in 1870 in Kiel, the biological station in Plön in 1891 in Germany.

Against this empirically rich background and with reference to recent studies, a comparative analysis seems promising. This symposium is particularly dedicated to a comparative analysis of the formation and fate of different types and media of internationality: The individual foundations were not only embedded in an international network of biological stations, they also functioned as "permanent international congresses of scientists" (primarily Naples), as "order houses" for the international distribution of biological material (like Roscoff), as hotspots of new scientific schools (like Kiel) and as sites of technological innovations that spread throughout the scientific community. In addition, some stations functioned as collection points and exhibition centres for biological material and as educational institutions.

Thus, these early biological stations were both: very localized social, biological, geographical places, but also nodes of international material, social and epistemic networks. The extent and quality of locality and internationality varied considerably and could also change significantly over time. It is therefore all the more promising to ask about the interrelation between founding situations, further institutional histories, internationality and scientific significance.

The aim of this conference is thus to gain a better understanding of the individual stations and their role in the biological sciences of their time and to delineate certain varieties of internationality that were realised through these stations. With a view to the present, these varieties can be critically compared with contemporary formations, demands and requirements for internationality, globality and multiperspectivity.

To a large extent, this conference can follow up on the results of a previous symposium on organisational forms in science at large, held in 2022. With its focus on a more homogeneous set of empirical cases and its shared interest in varieties of ‘localized internationality’, it sets an additional accent.

Presentations address the following aspects:

•    Founding situation and ensuing history of the station
•    Organisational form(s), scientific orientation(s), social function(s)
•    Everyday practices, research material, equipment, guests, publication system, etc.
•    Supposed influence on the nature and extent of internationality
•    Supposed influence on the station’s significance for the biological sciences

Programm Folder (pdf)

Programme 04.04.2024

Programme 05.04.2024

Conference language: German and English
Contact:Karen.Kastenhofer@oeaw.ac.at