Günther Hamann

Günther Hamann (born October 12, 1924 in Vienna ; † October 13, 1994 , ibid) was an Austrian historian and professor at the University of Vienna .

Live and act

Günther Hamann's grave

Hamann was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1942 and studied history at the University of Vienna from 1945. In 1964 he became an associate professor, and in 1971 a full professor of modern history at the Historical Institute of the University of Vienna. In 1965 he married Brigitte Hamann , née Deitert (1940-2016), with whom he had three children, including the journalist and feminist Sibylle Hamann . Hamann's specialties were the history of natural sciences , the history of geographical discoveries and the history of cartography .

Through his lectures and seminars, he interested many students in the history of natural sciences. A number of his doctoral students became researchers in this field themselves, such as Johannes Dörflinger , Marianne Klemun , and Franz Graf-Stuhlhofer . Some of them eventually found a neighboring main research area, for example in ethnology, such as Karl R. Wernhart, or in the early modern period, such as Alfred Kohler .

In 1980 Hamann was the main initiator of the founding of the "Austrian Society for the History of Natural Sciences". In 1992 the name was changed to “Austrian Society for the History of Science”. In the year after it was founded, i.e. in 1981, the society began to publish a journal (today: Communications of the Austrian Society for the History of Science ). He was followed in 1988 as President by Helmuth Grössing , who was once an assistant at Hamann.

Since 1979 he has been a corresponding member of the Saxon Academy of Sciences .

The collection of essays, Understanding and Experiencing the World , published in 1993, one year before his death, provides an overview of his research into the history of science .

Günther Hamann was buried at the Grinzinger Friedhof (group 36, row 5, number 25).

Fonts (selection)

• The entry of the southern hemisphere into European history. The development of the Africa route to Asia from the age of Henry the Navigator to Vasco da Gama. Verlag Böhlau, Vienna 1968.
• Naturehistorical Museum. History. Buildings (= publications from the Natural History Museum, New Series No. 13), Vienna 1976.
• (Ed.): The old university quarter in Vienna. 1384-1984. Universitäts-Verlag, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-85114-000-1 .
• (Ed.): 100 Years of Universität am Ring. Science and research at the University of Vienna since 1884. Universitäts-Verlag, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-85114-003-6 .
• Understand and experience the world. Essays on the history of science and discovery. Günther Hamann on retirement , ed. by Johannes Dörflinger (= Perspectives on the History of Science; 1). Böhlau, Vienna 1993, ISBN 3-205-98041-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Christine Haiden: Habsburgs uncoverer. Brigitte Hamann ... ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Walther Killy (Ed.): German biographical encyclopedia (DBE). Volume 4, Verlag Saur, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-59823-164-4 , p. 355; and Fritz Fellner, Doris Corradini: Austrian History in the 20th Century. A biographical-bibliographical lexicon. Verlag Böhlau, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-20577-476-0 , p. 163.
3. ↑ ÖGW

Web links

• Entry on Günther Hamann in the Austria Forum  (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
• Literature by and about Günther Hamann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by Günther Hamann in the Austrian union catalog