Institute for Flow Sciences

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The Institute for Flow Sciences in Herrischried in the southern Black Forest is a non-profit, independent research institution. Motivated by the anthroposophical worldview, the institute examines flow phenomena and qualitative properties of water , which can be observed in its forms of movement, and the effects of different waters on organisms. The institute currently has six permanent employees.

Research activities are based on the work of Theodor Schwenk , an engineer who set up the institute in 1960/61 and headed it until 1976. The institute's methods are not recognized by established science.

Goal setting and working methods

The institute aims to understand water as an essential basis of life according to the anthroposophical worldview and to develop a quality term for "good" water from this understanding. The aim is to develop knowledge bases for an expansion of awareness of water as a mediator of life and for responsible use of it.

The focus is on experimental work that investigates phenomena which, in Schwenk's opinion, are of interest for a “ holistic understanding” of water. Since, according to anthroposophical understanding, a holistic knowledge cannot be achieved with the means of natural science alone , z. B. also called Goethean methods . Established research regards these approaches as pseudosciences . Microbiological and chemical investigations are used to determine the purity, algae investigations to determine the effects of water on small creatures and the so-called drip image method to investigate flow dynamics. With the drip image method developed by Theodor Schwenk, the flow behavior of the water is photographed under reproducible laboratory conditions and evaluated as an expression of its properties.

The limited scientific nature of the institute's working method is not due to a lack of precision in the experimental methods, but to the interpretation of the results obtained, which is not compatible with physical and scientific requirements. Furthermore, the aim of this research is not a priori scientific, because it is declared to want to expand it.

public perception

The publications of the institute are mainly taken into account in anthroposophical and esoteric circles, but with the increasing openness and search for “holistic” perspectives also from the 1990s, more and more in the water sector. This affects both water supply companies and other associations that are committed to maintaining the quality of water. On July 7, 2007, the long-time director of the institute, Wolfram Schwenk, was awarded the European Well Society Prize.

literature

  • Andreas Wilkens, Michael Jacobi, Wolfram Schwenk: Learning to understand water . Exhibition catalog. Institute for Flow Sciences, Herrischried 1995, ISBN 3-931719-05-7 .
  • Andreas Wilkens, Michael Jacobi, Wolfram Schwenk: The experimental technique of the drip image method - documentation and instructions . Sensibles Wasser series, No. 5. Institute for Flow Sciences, Herrischried 2000, ISBN 3-931719-04-9 .
  • Wolfram Schwenk (ed.): Steps to the positive characterization of water as a life mediator. Selected texts from 40 years of water research using the drip image method . Sensibles Wasser series, No. 6. Institute for Flow Sciences, Herrischried 2001, ISBN 3-931719-06-5 .
  • Franz Metzler (Ed.): Understanding water - setting standards. 40 years at the Institute for Fluid Dynamics 1961–2001 . Sensibles Wasser series, No. 7. Institute for Flow Sciences, Herrischried 2001, ISBN 3-931719-09-X .
  • Theodor Schwenk: The sensitive chaos. Flowing creation in water and air . 10th edition. Free Spiritual Life, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-7725-0571-6 .
  • Andreas Wilkens et al .: Water moves - phenomena and experiments . 1st edition. Haupt-Verlag, Bern / Stuttgart / Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-258-07521-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ However, the institute's drip image method is mentioned in: Andreas Grohmann: Positive Definition of Drinking Water . Cape. 10.7.6 in Karl Höll: water, use in the cycle, hygiene, analysis and evaluation . 8th edition, pp. 727-728. Berlin, New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-012931-0 .
  2. ↑ AWBR, 36th report 2006, office of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Wasserwerke Bodensee-Rhein, Freiburg, ISSN  0179-7867 , pp. 223-224
  3. ^ Central water supply Hochschwab Süd, Austria
  4. ^ Klaus Lindner, Dietrich Maier, Hartwig Steusloff (Ed.): What is good drinking water? , Fraunhofer IOSB Karlsruhe 2015, pp. 45-47, ISBN 978-3-8396-0961-3
  5. ↑ watermark - releases from Club and Institute in Herrischried, No. 27/2007.