Akademie der Wissenschaften der DDR

The Academy of Sciences of the GDR (AdW), known until 1972 as the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW), was the most important research institution in the GDR . It was officially opened in 1946 and continued, at least in part, the tradition of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . The Academy was both a learned society (scholarly society), in which the award of membership by election represented scientific recognition, and, in contrast to many other academies of sciences , a supporting organization of a research community of non-university research institutes.

The Academy has been awarding the Alexander von Humboldt Medal since 1959 .

With German reunification, the learned society was separated from the research institutes and other facilities and dissolved in 1992. In personnel continuity with the AdW, its activities have been continued since 1993 by the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin. The research projects and holdings of the AdW were taken over by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences , founded in 1992. The academy institutes were dissolved on December 31, 1991 and partly re-established under the auspices of other organizations such as the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Association , the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers , the Max Planck Society and the Fraunhofer Society . Some sub-areas and sub-projects were retained, but were transferred to other institutions such as the German Archaeological Institute .