Karsten Danzmann – Prizewinner 2017

"Yet gravitational waves are anything but harmless chirping," said Hamburg's Mayor Olaf Scholz, setting straight Danzmann's achievement in Hamburg City Hall. "Your detection has opened a new channel with which to penetrate into the great darkness of the universe, which no previously known radiation has reached." For that which now appears to be possible, Danzmann has been awarded the Körber European Science Prize in 2017: Not only to gain insight into the origins of black holes, but perhaps even to unravel the origins of the world itself one day. The mayor's praise for the far-sightedness of the Körber Prize committees was not long in coming:"The Körber European Science Prize has gained an excellent reputation internationally. The selection of the prize winners is exceptional. This year once again, we are honouring a scientist whose research has the potential for a Nobel Prize."

Lothar Dittmer, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Körber Foundation, therefore also spoke of a "shining hour in science". But he did not linger for long on this light metaphor, as he feels that too many dark clouds are currently appearing on the scientific horizon. At the Hamburg meeting of university presidents from all over the world, it had recently become clear "that academic freedom is losing its importance in many places or even being deliberately curtailed. Unlike a few years ago, this disheartening development is no longer confined to states with authoritarian regimes somewhere around the world. We can also find examples in our immediate European neighbourhood."

In Turkey, dissenting scientists have been dismissed en masse and the higher education system has been restructured for reasons of state. And in Hungary, the Central European University is threatened with closure because it does not fit in with the ideas of head of state Orban. The United Kingdom is also considering whether government funding should be provided only to research projects that have direct financial and economic benefits. Such a departure from basic research would make breakthroughs like those of Karsten Danzmann difficult, or even impossible. According to Dittmer, anti-scientific sentiment emerges wherever ignorance and power enter into an unholy alliance.

Even in Germany, science is not free of political or economic instrumentalisation, Dittmer stressed. Elaborate fraudulent technical manoeuvres by the automotive industry have damaged Germany's reputation as a business location and as a haven for quality-conscious inventors and problem-solvers. Yet science and education are Germany's only raw materials and the basis for economic success. This makes it all the more incomprehensible that the issues of education and science were not even mentioned in the TV election debate between the chancellor and her challenger: "Zero questions and therefore also zero minutes of speaking time."

On the other hand, Dittmer is pleased that Hamburg, the "Gateway to the World", is increasingly opening up to science with various research institutions:"With the Körber Prize, we ourselves are beneficiaries of this development. At the beginning of the year, the Bürgerschaft, Hamburg's city parliament, passed a petition that acknowledges the significance of the prize for the city and calls for it to be employed even more strongly in order to support the reputation of Hamburg as a science location." Dittmer therefore took this opportunity to thank the Mayor for 33 years of sustained hospitality in Hamburg's City Hall.

Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society, also emphasized in a subsequent conversation with the journalist Ranga Yogeshwar that everyone who bears responsibility in politics must deal with scientific facts. At the moment, he said, one can see how the relevance of science is being talked down, yet science is the very precondition in order for people to understand their living environment. Feeding the world's population in the future will not be possible without the application of science. In the final analysis, it will ensure survival of the human race. In addition, he added, scientific work must be afforded time and patience, in addition to trust. If science is given sufficient freedom, something could come out of it that will ultimately change the world.