Marianne Klemun

Spaces and places: an historical overview of the development of geology in Austria (Habsburg Monarchy) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

Abstract Geology as a discipline emerged in Austria between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from mineralogy and geognosy, two sciences dominated by descriptive rather than theoretical approaches. Austria, in this context, refers to the conglomerate of different states under the Habsburg Monarchy that existed until 1918. Two key aspects shaped the development of geology and the establishment of public institutions: mining industries and natural history collections. As a result of their close relation, the k.k. Geologische Reichsanstalt (Imperial Geological Survey) was founded in Vienna in 1849, which had repercussions for the entire empire. The Reichsanstalt carried out a geological survey of all the territories of the Habsburg Monarchy, resulting in a unifying geological map published in 1867. Geology was triggered and accelerated not least by the industrialization processes of the nineteenth century. From the 1850s, geology no longer focused only on the empire and its provinces, but took a global perspective. From 1862 a growing number of university chairs for geology were established, making the ‘new’ academic discipline visible. The internationally outstanding research work of Eduard Suess contributed to this success story.

Questions of periodization and Adolphe von Morlot's contribution to the term and the concept ‘Quaternär’ (1854)

Abstract Questions concerning periodization in geology are obviously still with us, and the same goes for the relationships of time, change and discontinuity. The fact that such questions are debated repeatedly in both history and geology is illustrated by the extensive discussion in recent years about the use of the term ‘Quaternary’ as a stratigraphic unit. Thus periodization is not merely a philosophical issue. Neither does it belong solely to the sociology or politics of science. Rather it must be seen as an essential instrument and an integral part of an on-going discussion of fundamental ideas about time in general. Several texts state that it was Adolphe Morlot (1820–1867) who coined the term ‘Quaternary’, but in fact there were earlier usages, with different meanings. This paper discusses not so much the ‘invention’ of the term Quaternary, but its range of meaning during the early phase of its introduction and development, in order to give and appropriate categorization of Morlots specific contribution and the reason why he introduce the term Quaternär. The discussion is based to a considerable extent on correspondence between Morlot and Friedrich Simony (1813–1896) of Vienna University.

Gärten und Sammlungen

Botanische Garten und Naturkundemuseen stellen zentrale Forschungseinrichtungen der Beschaftigung mit den »drei Reichen der Natur« dar. Sie fungieren als multifunktionale und mehrfachkodierte Wissensraume. Trotz ihrer Kontinuitat wandelten sich im Laufe der Jahrhunderte ihre Aufgaben, Schwerpunkte und Offentlichkeitsformen. Wahrend der botanische Garten sich seit dem 16. Jahrhundert als universitare Einrichtung und in der Folge auch an anderen Standorten (wie Handelsgesellschaften, Hofen, Akademien, wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaften, Museumsvereinen und Stadtkommunen) entwickelte, ist das Naturkundemuseum besonders der burgerlichen Sammlungskultur des 18. Jahrhunderts entwachsen und infolge der Franzosischen Revolution unter den Einfluss von Staat, Nation und Offentlichkeit geraten (Spary 2000).

Expeditions as Experiments: An Introduction

This introduction focuses on different forms of expeditions and their role in the process of knowledge acquisition from the eighteenth century onwards, it investigates the various forms of scientific practices conducted during, after and before expeditions, and it places this discussion into the scientific context of experiments. Taking as our starting point the heuristic tool of expeditions as experiments, we propose that the expedition is also a variation on the laboratory in which different practices can be conducted, where the transformation of uncertain into certain knowledge can be tested. The experimental positioning of the expedition brings together an ensemble of techniques, strategies, material agents and social actors, and illuminates the steps leading from observation to facts and documentation.

Space, state, territory, region and habitat: alpine gardens in the Habsburg countries

Abstract Botanical gardens represent institutionalized space, in which epistemes are not only present as cognitive elements, but are put into visual form and practice on different levels.1 Moreover, the self-referential spatial connection of each botanical garden receives its dimensions by means of various space designs and connotations, and variable scientific allocations of meaning also communicate with entirely different, overlapping political spaces of associations. The aim of this paper is to look at constellations between space and science as well as between concepts and practices, design of gardens and cultural-political meanings, but also to try to answer the question in what context this specific form of a botanical garden, namely an alpine garden, established itself and what scientific questions were solved in those gardens.