From the Braunschweig Research Prize to the “Salon der Wissenschaft"

The Braunschweig region has been recognised as a leading research location in Europe This is both an honour and an obligation and describes the central future potential for the development of the region. With the introduction of the Braunschweig Research Award in 2007, Braunschweig underlines the important role of science for the future development of the region. The research prize honours outstanding international interdisciplinary research results in the fields of engineering, life sciences or cultural sciences. The prize money of 30,000 euros was donated by the city of Braunschweig. The prize money of 30,000 euros was donated by the city of Braunschweig. The prize was sponsored by the City of Braunschweig and the association ForschungRegion Braunschweig e. V.

The prizewinners to date have been:

2007: Prof. Dr. Sebastian Thrun
2009: Dr. Bertrand Piccard und André Borschberg
2011: Prof. Dr. Petra Schwille
2014: Prof. Dr. Ursula M. Staudinger
2016: Prof. Dr. Martin Winter
2018: Prof. Dr. Karsten Danzmann

The most recent award ceremony for the Braunschweig Science Prize was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The last awardee in 2018 was Professor Dr Karsten Danzmann, director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) and Professor at Leibniz Universität in Hannover. He received the award for his development of key technologies that have contributed to the ability to observe gravitational waves from Earth. This has established a whole new branch of space research, gravitational wave astronomy.

The prize was awarded primarily to raise the profile of Braunschweig as a leading research location. After six successful award ceremonies, the association ForschungRegion e. V. decided at its general meeting on 27 October 2020 to discontinue the previous research prize and instead to implement a format developed by the Haus der Wissenschaft called “Salon der Wissenschaft” and to evaluate it in terms of its practicality and acceptance.

The vision behind the new concept for the Braunschweig Research Prize is to establish a format that is accessible to the general public, thus making science and research more widely known and tangible in Braunschweig and among the population, while also promoting the exchange between science and society.