In article 17 of the Austrian constitutional law of 1867 it says that “Science and education are free.” The freedom of science means that those who conduct science are free to choose their research questions and their methods. The results of scientific and artistic research shall significantly contribute to wealth and a better life for all people. Here many tasks yet await many scientists worldwide, because there still exist too great a lack of freedom, and inequality in society. The currently rampant, targeted distortion and the ideological abuse of scientific results not only threaten the freedom of science, but also, and particularly, the foundations of democracy, and are harbingers of totalitarian systems. Science concerns everyone: Join the Vienna March for Science on Saturday, April 22, 2017 at 1pm at Sigmund-Freud-Park.
Eva Blimlinger is rector of the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
Photo: Yasmina Haddad