2 / 2022 // LEOPOLDINA / NEWS 11
NEW MEMBERS CLASS II – LIFE SCIENCES
In May , the new Class II members of 2020 and 2021 – life sciences – received their certificates . On the photo : Secretary-General Franziska Hornig ( l .) and Gerald Haug ML , President of the Leopoldina ( r .) and new members Melanie Blokesch , Anne Spang , Barbara Rehermann , Ruth Ley , Marja Timmermans , Martina Muckenthaler , Oliver Einsle ( front row from left to right ). Matthias Rillig , Nicolaus von Wirén , Helle Ulrich , Ute Krämer , Bernhard Küster , Uwe Sonnewald and Marco Prinz ( middle row from left to right ) and Gerhard Hummer , Jonathan Gershenzon , Lars Chittka , Christian Drosten , Blanche Schwappach-Pignataro , Peter Rehling , Christian Rosenmund and Ulrich Brandt ( back row from left to right ).
Image : Markus Scholz | Leopoldina result of modern industrial agriculture . This gives us human beings several reasons for protecting bees : because they are important pollinators , but also for their own sake . And there is an ethical aspect : Up until now , there are no regulations on how scientists should treat insects in the laboratory . We now need certain rules – similar to the rules for experiments using rats or monkeys – that determine
the conditions under which insect experiments should be permitted
How can your membership of the Leopoldina help you with this ? Chittka : I believe that the Leopoldina plays an eminent role as a hub for first-class science , politics and the public sphere . The decline in the number of insects , such as bees , has received widespread public attention for years . I would like to use the Leopoldina as a platform to disseminate the knowledge that bees are thinking and feeling living beings to a certain extent . This realisation is important for nature conservation because it instils more respect for nature and its smallest creatures .
■ THE INTERVIEW WAS CONDUCTED BY BENJAMIN HAERDLE
PORTRAIT OF FORMER PRESIDENT JÖRG HACKER PRESENTED AT SPRING EVENT
The portrait of Former President Jörg Hacker ML was unveiled at the joint spring event of the Leopoldina and the Friends of the Leopoldina Academy . The microbiologist was the academy ’ s XXVIth President from 2010 until 2020 . In his time in office , Jörg Hacker established the Leopoldina as an advisory body on societal challenges , both nationally and internationally , and a prestigious partner in the global dialogue between academies . The portrait will complete the gallery of Presidents of the Academy in the main building in Halle ( Saale ), which features portraits of almost all former Presidents . The painting was created by Sebastian Herzau , an artist from Halle , who studied painting at the University of Art and Design in Burg Giebichstein . During the reception , the Schleiden Medal 2021 was presented to medical doctor and cell biologist Nicolaus Pfanner ML for his scientific work on the structure and function of mitochondria . The scientist from Freiburg gave a lecture about his work entitled “ Mitochondria , the smallest human power plants ”.
■ JK / Image : Markus Scholz | Leopoldina
Jörg Hacker