Das Magnus-Haus und die Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft

“The Magnus House and the German Physical Society” by Theo Mayer-Kuckuk † (German language).—This essay traces the distinctive relationship between the Magnus House and the German Physical Society, from its origins in Gustav Magnus’s private Physical Colloquium to the restoration of the house as a center of scholarly exchange after German reunification. It begins with the colloquium established in 1843 at Am Kupfergraben 7, from whose circle of participants the Physical Society of Berlin emerged in 1845, even though Magnus himself never became a member of the society founded by his students. After Magnus’s death, his private laboratory initially lost its direct significance for university physics, yet the house remained alive as a site of memory; in 1930 the German Physical Society installed a commemorative plaque honoring Magnus and his colleagues and students. The essay describes the building’s post-1945 use by the Soviet secret police and the Society for German-Soviet Friendship, its transfer to the Physical Society of the GDR during the Max Planck centenary in 1958, and the return of Max Planck’s library to Berlin. For decades, the Magnus House served as the society’s administrative home, housed the Max Planck Library, and hosted physics colloquia, above all the long-standing Max von Laue Colloquium. With the unification of the East and West German physical societies in November 1990, the house once again became a symbol of scientific reunification; the 1992 funding agreement between the State of Berlin, Siemens AG, and the German Physical Society made possible its renovation and the recovery of its historic floor plan. The Magnus House thus emerges as a place rich in the traditions of physics, science communication, and dialogue among research, politics, business, and the public.