Salon Sophie Charlotte 2019

The world of precise measurement is about to undergo a fundamental change. In 1900, Max Planck called for a search “for constants that retain their significance for all time and for all forms of being, including extraterrestrial and non-human cultures.” This has now been achieved, rendering the original kilogram as the prototype of mass obsolete. On 20 May 2019, on the annual World Metrology Day, the basis for the International System of Units (SI), with which we “measure the world”, will be converted to natural constants: the most stable basis imaginable. 2019 is also the year of 250th birthday of Alexander von Humboldt, whose “measurement of the world” fascinates us to this day – two good reasons to present the Salon Sophie Charlotte 2019 under the motto “Measure and measuring”.
The subject of “Measure and measuring” has become more than just a domain of the natural sciences. It touches the arts and humanities, economics and social sciences, as well as medicine, while impacting upon society and everyday lives on a very personal level.
Accordingly, the varied program is dispersed among 20 venues in the Academy building, with more than 150 participants expected, including Nobel Prize winners Klaus von Klitzing and Wolfgang Ketterle.

An event of Berlin-Brandenburg Aacdemy of Sciences and Humanities in cooperation with Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt – National Metrology Institute of Germany and with participation of Max Planck Society, Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities, Young Academy, Arab-German Young Academy, Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes – German Academic Scholarship Foundation and  Villa Aurora – Thomas Mann House, sponsored by Gerda Henkel Foundation.