Wilhelm Ostwald Park
Today's Wilhelm Ostwald Park , formerly: Landsitz Energie , on the outskirts of Großbothen is the property acquired by the chemist and later Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Ostwald in 1901, which served him as his residence and place of work from 1906 until the end of his life in 1932 and today as a museum and The conference center functions (previously called the “Wilhelm Ostwald Memorial”).
During Ostwald's lifetime
Wilhelm Ostwald, who held a professorship for physical chemistry at the University of Leipzig between 1887 and 1906 , bought a property in Großbothen near Grimma in 1901 . The decisive factor for the choice of the location was the greater scenic charm of the area compared to the Leipzig area. Even before Ostwald turned to the theory of colors , he depicted the Muldental in numerous paintings. In 1905, when a separation from the university was pending due to scientific differences, the house he had bought was expanded as a home for the family of seven and as a future workplace with a laboratory and library and also built a caretaker's house. In 1906 Ostwald moved to Großbothen. Houses were built in 1912 and 1914 for their sons Wolfgang and Walter , who both also became chemists - the former was one of the founders of colloidal chemistry , the latter a fuel specialist. After 1914 Ostwald occupied himself with psychophysics and developed a self-contained theory of body colors . The construction of a special laboratory building (1916) became inevitable. By 1921, the area, including the park and meadows, had grown to seven hectares. Ostwald, whose motto was “Do not waste energy - recycle it”, coined the name of the country estate “Energy” .
After 1932
When Ostwald died in 1932, his heirs decided not to split the estate in order to keep it as a unit. The daughter Grete Ostwald (1882–1960) played an important role. Despite her serious illness - general inflammation of the joints, she was handcuffed to a wheelchair - she coordinated the processing of her father's extensive writings and founded the Ostwald Archive in 1936 . The buildings survived the Second World War without damage. Despite the family's financial hardship in the post-war period, no inventory was sold. In order to enable the property to be used for science in addition to preserving the property, the heirs donated the estate to the GDR Academy of Sciences in 1953 , which then established the Wilhelm Ostwald Archive and Research Center . In the 1960s and 1970s, the academy relocated parts of the estate to Berlin and in 1973 set up the Ostwald memorial in the “Energie” building , the former work space and today's museum . After 1990, several claims were made to the "Energie" country estate , and in December 1994 the Free State of Saxony was awarded the property. In 1995, the building, which had been under monument protection since 1979, threatened to be handed over to an investor who wanted to "push together" the building fabric and build a hotel. This could be prevented by a signature campaign.
today
Even if the written estate is still in Berlin, Wilhelm Ostwald's scientific library (approx. 14,000 titles in 22,000 volumes; 10,000 special prints, including 1,300 dissertations), but also his work utensils (historical laboratory equipment, landscape paintings, Ostwald double cone ) can be found in Großbothen today , 3000 color theory study sheets for the practical examination of his color theory etc.) can be viewed. In the former laboratory building, the “Werk” house , there are today conference rooms and in the “Glückauf” house , where the son Walter Ostwald once lived, smaller seminar rooms and overnight rooms. In September 2005, the Society of German Chemists honored the “Energie” country estate with the memorial plaque for the Historic Site of Chemistry .
Since January 1, 2009, the charitable Gerda and Klaus Tschira Foundation has owned the property, in which - in addition to the archive and museum - a conference center for scientists is operated.
Web links
- Website of the Wilhelm Ostwald Park
- From the history of the country estate "Energie"
- GDCh eV press release from August 26, 2005
- Press release on handover to the Gerda and Klaus Tschira Foundation (PDF file; 229 kB)
Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 31.9 ″ N , 12 ° 44 ′ 34 ″ E