Press release, 17. 3. 2017
Route of the Vienna Science March to be announced soon • Growing number of supporters • 400 events worldwide • US-Budget cut worse than expected
Five weeks ahead of the Vienna March for Science on 22 April the head of the organization team Oliver Lehmann announced first results. Only a week after the homepage www.sciencemarchvienna.at went online together with social media channels at @sciencemarchvienna, leading representatives of the Austrian scientific community started supporting claims and goals of the Vienna March for Science. After Helga Nowotny (Head of the ERA Council Forum Austria) was the first to sign, Heinz W. Engl (University of Vienna Rector), Margit Fischer (Head of ScienceCenter-network), Helmut Holzinger (President of Austria’s conference of universities of applied science) and Christa Neuper (Rector of Karl-Franzens-University Graz) aming others followed. The daily updated list of supporters may be found on http://www.sciencemarchvienna.at/en/supporters/.
Currently, starting from Washington D.C. there are worldwide about 400 demonstrations planned, with scientists from all over the world arguing for proper infrastructure, public mediation and societal appreciation of science. In Austria, there are besides the Vienna event initial ideas for similar activities in Graz, Linz and Innsbruck. The activists meeting next week in Vienna will discuss, how the march and its route should be configured.
The worldwide interest in the March for Science is steadily increasing. In Germany not only leading institutions such as the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation and the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft support this event, but also numerous Nobel prize winners such as Gerhard Ertl (Chemistry 2007), Klaus von Klitzing (Physics 1985), Erwin Neher (Medicine 1991) and Horst Störmer (Physics 1998), see marchforscience.de/unterstuetzer/.
Oliver Lehmann: “The budget cuts recently announced by the US-government are even worse than US-American had feared. Science relies on international cooperation. US-American scientists today need the support of the scientific community worldwide. The Vienna March for Science on April 22 is our contribution.”
Further questions:
Oliver Lehmann
Head of organization team
www.sciencemarchvienna.at
lehmann@sciencemarchvienna.at