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Waltzes, balls and wreaths don't stop at scientists during carnival. At the beginning of the 20th century, the natural historians' circle ensured full ballrooms, but today it is the Vienna Ball of Sciences. The Danube Waltz is always part of it – on the Viennese dance floor as well as on melting ice floes in the far north.
First, the natural science association at the university is introduced. It was constituted on October 21, 1882 with the aim of "having a meeting point in which, apart from material support for their studies through literary aids, collections, etc., they can find the opportunity for a mutual exchange of ideas and joint work". After almost two decades, the initially “very modest” natural historian group was invented. But within a few years it had "grown into a formal ball" ("Neues Wiener Tagblatt", February 11, 1902); this took place in the Hotel Continental.
The Hotel Continental dates back to the Vienna World Exhibition (1873). It was created from the Golden Lamb and the White Swan. In addition to 200 rooms, it also had a hall for 600 people. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Continental was a renowned location for large events. Above all, balls, dance events and large celebrations took place here. When the polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen (1861–1930) spoke in the ballroom of the Vienna City Hall on May 6, 1898, the subsequent banquet with 130 people took place in the Continental. Today there is another hotel in its place, the SO/Vienna, a landmark on the Danube Canal.
One of the events that always took place at the Continental was the natural historians' wreath. The former who's who of the Viennese scientific community was brought together here, as a look back at the ball in 1909 shows. The protectorate of the ball at that time was the rector of the University of Vienna, Professor Dr. Franz Exner, above, the president was Lilly Rechinger, the wife of the botanist Karl Rechinger. "Among the guests of honor were: the President of the Academy of Sciences, Professor Dr. Sueß, the Councilors Weiß and Tietze, the Professors Becke, Brückner, Berwerth, Diener, Fiebiger, Hoernes, Oberhummer, [...] Tschermak, Uhlig, v. Wettstein, the Vice President of the Zoological-Botanical Society Dr. Ostermayer, [...]." ("Neues Wiener Tagblatt", February 12, 1909). The ladies and gentlemen who opened the ball included well-known names, many of them sons and daughters of scholars. The best-known from today's perspective is the then 22-year-old physicist and later Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger, who opened with Paula Hölzel. In addition to the natural scientists, there were a number of other balls in the academic environment, such as those for the chemists.
Numerous humorous reports and notes can be found about the chemists' circle that was organized by the Vienna University of Technology (today TU), such as examples from 1885 and 1886: "On February 10th of this year, several hundred funny people had gathered in the distillery room of the music club halls, all of whom were gifted with the ability to form binary connections and responded to the strong ones present Since almost all the bases were young and pretty, the acids never dreamed of reacting sourly, but rather took part in the waltz and polka processes with the sweetest of faces, for which the retorts presented as ladies' donations offered space. It goes without saying that a lot of heat was developed in the many intimate mixtures and a large part of the water present also turned into steam Apparently all the elements were in their element and not once did it happen that a compound was precipitated. Whether most of the compounds were not of a volatile nature will not be analyzed here, only this much should be noted that for many analyses the final dissolution of all mixtures into their elements was only achieved by the light of the rising sun. ("Vienna Caricatures", February 22, 1885).
At the chemist's partyStudent: Why sigh, my lady, what's wrong with you?Young lady: Oh, nothing, Doctor, nothing but - dowry! ("The Bomb", February 14, 1886)
It doesn't need to be emphasized that people danced to waltz music at the Viennese balls. But you don't just listen to the lively sounds in Vienna. The geologist Gustav Laube (1839–1923) provided the proof in a lecture on November 23, 1870 in Vienna. Laube was a participant in the Second German North Pole Expedition (1869/1870), which consisted of two ships, the Germania and the Hansa. He himself was on the Hansa, which was destroyed by the pressure of the ice floes. The crew therefore had to spend the winter on a “floe that was seven nautical miles in circumference”.
Laube says: "There were sails for people to sew and other equipment, and we also had enough good reading material to keep everyone mentally occupied. Games and even music also shortened the time. We listened to my music box with great pleasure day after day. It will be interesting for the Viennese to hear that a music box probably played 'On the Beautiful Blue Danube' in the distant Arctic Ocean hundreds of times." (Thomas Hofmann, February 20, 2020)