"Historic Site" Institute of Physics, University of Graz
Award of the Physics Institute building of the University of Graz as a "Historic Site" of the European Physical Society (EPS)
The physics building at Universitätsplatz 5 was added to the ‘Historic Sites’ of the European Physical Society as number 75 on 7 June 2024. And this just in the 180th year of the birth of the University of Graz researcher Ludwig Boltzmann.
The European Physical Society (EPS) regularly honours research sites for physics where outstanding physicists have worked. With the decision of 16 November 2023, the building of the Institute of Physics at the University of Graz, which was built in 1872-1876 under the supervision of the physicist August Toepler, has now been honoured with the high distinction of Historic Site. This is the fourth time it has been honoured in Austria. The nomination is the result of an initiative by the First European Centre for the History of Physics (ECHOPHYSICS, founded by Peter Maria Schuster).
On 7 June 2024, in addition to the ceremonial unveiling of a commemorative plaque on the facade of the physics building, a symposium was held on the historical development of the institute building and its leading figure Ludwig Boltzmann (1844 - 1906).
In his second professorship in Graz, Boltzmann moved 1876 as full professor of general and experimental physics into the new institute building, which had been built 150 years ago and was considered one of the most modern physics research centres at the time. Important scientists worked, researched and taught at this institute: August Toepler, Albert von Ettingshausen, Walter Nernst, Svante Arrhenius, Alfred and Kurt Wegener, Viktor F. Hess, Erwin Schrödinger, Adolf Smekal, Hans Benndorf, Paul Urban, Otto Burkhard, Wilhelm Nordberg, Günther Porod.
Statement by Peter Riedler, Rector of the University of Graz: ‘I am particularly pleased that the physics building at Universitätsplatz 5 can officially hold the distinction of “Historic Site”. Scientific research has a long tradition at our university. This is not only evident in the names of important researchers such as Ludwig Boltzmann, but is also reflected spatially on campus. Right next to the heritage-protected physics building, the ultra-modern Graz Centre of Physics is currently being built until 2030, which will further strengthen physics research in Graz with a modern infrastructure.’
Symposium Program
Information on the EPS website
Homepage on EPS historic sites: https://www.eps.org/page/distinction_sites
Time travel through the history of the University of Graz: https://1585-tomorrow.uni-graz.at/de/#/
Infos on the webpage of Graz University: https://www.uni-graz.at/de/neuigkeiten/zum-180.-geburtsjahr-von-ludwig-boltzmann-physikgebaeude-erhaelt-auszeichnung-1/
Infos on the webpage of the University of Innsbruck: https://www.uibk.ac.at/de/newsroom/2024/eps-historic-site-in-graz/
