The Nobel laureates of the University of Vienna

Light and shadow

A university is the cradle of intellect but, as history shows, a university does not always provide protection against discrimination and persecution. The “Nobel Prize and Vienna University” installation aims to remind us of these bright and dark sides. It was developed by Bele Marx and Gilles Mussard.

The first Nobel laureate from Vienna University was ear specialist Robert Bárány. In 1914 he was awarded the prize for his pioneering study of semicircular canals, our most important organ for balance, found in the inner ear.

In 1927 the psychiatrist Julius Wagner-Jauregg accepted the Nobel Prize for his discovery of the therapeutic importance of the malaria inoculation in progressive paralysis. His ideas on racial hygiene are a controversial topic.

In 1930 there were two laureates from the University of Vienna at once. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Hans Fischer for his work on the structure of blood and plant pigments. The immunologist Karl Landsteiner received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. His research on blood groups from as early as 1901 enabled, among other things, the first blood transfusions.

Three years later another Nobel Prize went to physicist Erwin Schrödinger for his findings on atomic theory. He is seen as one of the fathers of quantum physics. As an opponent of the Nazis he was forced to leave Austria and emigrated to Ireland.

The physicist Viktor Franz Hess was awarded the prize in 1936 for his discovery of cosmic rays. As cosmopolitan and Catholic Hess rejected national socialism and emigrated to the US.

In the same year physiologist and pharmacologist Otto Loewi received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discoveries on the chemical transfer of neural stimuli to organs. Two years later Loewi was forced to flee from the Nazis, first emigrating to England, then to the US.

The medic, zoologist and behavioural scientist Konrad Lorenz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1973 for his findings on the organisation and triggering of individual and social behavioural patterns. Konrad Lorenz’s involvement with national socialism is still a controversial topic today.

Lastly, in 1974, the Viennese national economist Friedrich August von Hayek received the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on monetary theory and economic fluctuations.

In the centre of the installation can be found a stele with a question mark. This refers to every scientist whose research at the University of Vienna was hindered, interrupted or destroyed by forced migration under national socialism. At the same time the question mark is there for motivation: who will be the next Nobel laureate?