Kosmos Lectures
In his famous Kosmos lectures in the Senate Chamber of the Humboldt-Universität and today’s Gorki Theatre, Alexander von Humboldt brought the whole world and every scientific discipline within the span of his attention. He looked at the world from a global perspective in which natural and cultural phenomena are connected in a mutual symbiosis. In the ten Kosmos lectures marking this anniversary year scientists and scholars from around the world will address the various topics from Humboldt’s lecture series and approach them from a present-day point of view.
At the venue of the historical Kosmos lectures, the HU lecture series marking the 250th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt will be opened by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and climate researcher Paulo Artaxo. As an environmental physicist, Artaxo is one of South America’s most prominent scientists. He played a leading role in the 2007 IPCC Climate Change Report, for which he and his team won the Nobel Peace Prize.
With: Prof. Paulo Artaxo, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Opening by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Date
6 April 2019, 5 p.m.
Venue: Gorki, Am Festungsgraben 2, 10117 Berlin
Language: English
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
An event in co-operation with the Maxim Gorki Theater.
Alexander von Humboldt was a revolutionary visionary who saw the Earth and its landscapes as a system of interconnected components in space and time. Such a way of seeing is more urgent than ever if we are to make the impending sustainability transformations we need. Humboldt’s new view of the Earth provided a pioneering “Humboldt programme for the Anthropocene”.
With: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Lucht, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Date
25 April 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: German
Further Information
Registration
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
As in few other areas of policy and politics, climate policy exposes the erosion of public trust in science and democracy. Confidence that democracies will be able to get on top of the challenges presented by climate change is dwindling, while autocratic regimes such as China are viewed as forerunners. Democracy is being held up against these views of things as the political system that is ultimately best able to deal with climate change. A close look as Humboldt’s way of doing science can create an awareness of plural perspectives on climate. Democracy is able to admit these perspectives and bring them into (conflicting) dialogue with each other.
With: Patrizia Nanz, Institute for Sustainability Transformation Research Potsdam
Date
2 May 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: German
Further Information
Registration
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
We will be following in Humboldt’s footsteps to explore his groundbreaking insights into broad patterns in nature, his importance for plant geography and the relevance of his holistic procedure for solving today’s global challenges.
With: Naia Morueta-Holme, University of Copenhagen
Date
23 May 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: English
Further information
Registrations
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
Current research approaches and historical perspectives from the collections of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin will have an exhibition in its own space in the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin City Palace. In his Kosmos lecture head curator Gorch Pieken will be presenting the concept for the opening exhibition, which is intended to make a contribution to important current topics in a dialogue between students, scientists, scholars and visitors. The core of the exhibition will deal with the impact of humanity on its environment and present current research projects, objects from the university’s collections and the results of working in various university archives.
With: Dr. Gorch Pieken, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Date
6 June 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: German
Further Information
Registration
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
Alexander von Humboldt was a political writer. His collected writings show how resolutely he engaged as a public intellectual in international matters – against slavery, for the emancipation of the Jews and in the presidential election campaign in the USA. They also show the limits of his commitment and the compromises he made with authoritarian governments. His testimony in both these regards is of utmost topicality today.
With: Oliver Lubrich, University of Berne
Date
20 June 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: German
Further Information
Registration
Quesions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
Demands for more sustainability in corporate business transactions and on capital markets have been becoming increasingly urgent since the outbreak of the financial crisis. There is clear potential for innovation here; the law, with all its options as well as its enabling and incentive function, can and must also be used to provide a regulatory framework for the positive developments that are already emerging in the markets with regard to sustainability, and to promote them as far as possible. At the same time, law can discipline companies that disregard existing requirements in this respect more than before. Following on from the interdisciplinary approach of Alexander von Humboldt's KOSMOS lectures, the significance of "Business and Finance" for the transformation to a sustainable society will be examined from a legal perspective.
With: Dr. Anne-Christin Mittwoch, Institut für Handels- und
Wirtschaftsrecht, Phillipps Universität Marburg
Date
29 August 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: English
Further Information
Registration
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
Environmental and climate information that can be precisely dated by the year can be gained from various tree ring parameters such as ring width, wood density, anatomical structures and chemical compositions. Dendrochronology thus offers a unique archive and precise tool for analysing human-environmental systems at the interface of archaeology, biology, climatology and ecology. The scientific potential and methodological limits of dendrochronology will be demonstrated, with examples from current research projects ranging from the cell to the hemisphere and from the present to the last ice age.
With: Ulf Büntgen, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK
Date
24 October 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: German
Further Information
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
Humboldt was a gifted scientific communicator. His lectures inspired a wide audience and his books were bestsellers. How did scientific communication function in his day, and how does it work today?
With: Sir Philip Campbell (astrophysicist), Springer Nature Guest Professor, University of Heidelberg
A lecture initiated by the Klaus Tschira Foundation and the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group.
Date
14 November 2019, 7 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: German
Further Information
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de
This lecture will be discussing Alexander von Humboldt’s role in the Age of Enlightenment and Discovery and how his idea of the ‘web of life’ resonates with Oceanic philosophies and complex networks, opening up new pathways to the future.
With: Prof. Dame Mary Anne Salmond, University of Auckland
Date
28 November 2019, 5 p.m.
Venue: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Unter den Linden 6, 10117 Berlin
Language: English
A lecture in co-operation with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Further Information
Questions about the event via mail: Veranstaltungen-250avh@hu-berlin.de