Vienna Ball of Sciences

The Vienna Ball of Sciences is a ball held annually in January in Vienna, Austria.

The ball combines classical traditions with contemporary impulses from the field of science communication. Since its foundation in 2015, it has become one of the largest balls[1] in the Viennese ball season[2][3][4][5][6]

History

The ball was founded in 2015 based on an initiative of the then mayor of Vienna, Michael Häupl, and the University Commissioner of the city of Vienna, Alexander Van der Bellen. Their concern was to position Vienna more clearly as a site for science. The attempt to legitimize xenophobic, anti-semitic and racist ideas in the university environment with the help of the so-called Akademikerball - organized by Burschenschaften (a form of German nationalist fraternities) and the right-wing FPÖ party - was an additional motive for the establishment of the Vienna Ball of Sciences, which can be seen as a contraposition.

Under the initiative of Häupl, Van der Bellen and then City Councilor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, science manager and science communicator Oliver Lehmann started the conception of the ball in the summer of 2014. Lehmann also chairs the club "Wien Wissen", which is responsible for organization, content and accounts. The first Vienna Ball of Sciences took place on January 31, 2015. Since its foundation, the Science Ball has traditionally been held on the last Saturday in January within the festival halls of the Vienna City Hall.

Slogan and programme

Since it started, "Decent Fun - Dance with an Attitude" has been the motto of the Vienna Ball of Sciences.

The ball programme combines classical elements of a traditional dance ball with contemporary forms of presentations in the field of science and art. The protagonists stem from Viennese universities and research institutions. Traditional components of a ball such as the opening by the Young Women and Young Men's Committee, the Midnight Quadrille and the table decoration are enhanced by scientific content. Hence, to exemplify, in 2018 a fashion show with models that had been inspired by experiments in the field of molecular biology took place; in 2019, the use of a thermal imaging camera in the ball discotheque followed to visualize the temperature profiles of ball guests.

Honorary committee

Rectors of all Viennese universities, private universities, colleges of education and technical colleges form the honorary committee. As of 2019, the committee will stand under the patronage of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen; EU-commissioner Johannes Hahn, mayor Michael Ludwig, the minister of science, and city councillor Veronica Kaup- Hasler head the honorary committee.

Ball ambassadors

People from the scientific community, science communication or from other areas of society such as politics, economics and culture with a connection to science are chosen to serve as ambassadors.

List of ball ambassadors (selection)

Guests of honor

Marc Abrahams, founder of the Ig nobel prize was guest of honour for the first ball in 2015, @NeinQuarterly journalist Eric Jarosinski in 2016. Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel (Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2000) opened the ball in 2016. With the visit of the 3rd Science Ball on 28 January 2017, newly elected president of the Republic of Austria, Alexander Van der Bellen, completed his first public appearance after his inauguration on January 26, 2017 [7]. The 4th Science Ball on January 27, 2018 was occasion for the first public appearance of Michael Ludwig as new mayor of the city of Vienna after his election as chairman of the Vienna SPÖ on the same day[8]. Guest of Honor 2018 was March for Science co-founder Caroline Weinberg. At the Ball 2019, computer scientist Bernd Bickel (IST Austria), winner of the Sci-Tech Award 2018 (awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), Nobel Prize for Chemistry awardee 1988 Robert Huber and Austria's Scientist of the Year 2018, chemist Nuno Maulide (University of Vienna) were welcomed as guests of honour.

References
  1. "Die schönsten Bälle im Überblick". Stadt Wien.
  2. "När Wien dansade för vetenskapen". Dagens Nyheter. February 4, 2018.
  3. "Der Krieg der Bälle". Handelsblatt. January 2, 2015.
  4. "Gowns, Wurst and Protesters: It's Ball Season in Vienna". New York Times. February 4, 2018.
  5. "Waltzing for Science". Nature. February 3, 2017.
  6. "Having a ball in science". Science. March 18, 2015.
  7. "Der Ball der vielen Präsidenten-Selfies". Die Presse. 29 January 2017.
  8. "Der neue und der alte Bürgermeister am Wissenschaftsball". Die Presse. January 28, 2018.
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