The European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA, Latin: Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea) is a transnational and interdisciplinary network, connecting about 2,000 recommended scientists and artists worldwide, including 37 Nobel Prize laureates. The European Academy of Sciences and Arts is a learned society of scientists and artists, founded by Felix Unger. The academy was founded 1990, is situated in Salzburg and has been supported by the city of Vienna, the government of Austria, and the European Commission.
The EASA is now headed by President Klaus Mainzer, TUM Emeritus of Excellence at the Technical University of Munich and Senior Professor at the Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker Center of the University of Tübingen.
It is unrelated to and should not be confused with the Belgium-based European Academy of Sciences (EURASC).
It is a member of the InterAcademy Partnership. Its activities have included a collaboration with the Latvian Academy of Sciences: the European-Latvian Institute for Cultural and Scientific Exchange (EUROLAT), founded in 1993.
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History
The origins date back to a scientific working group with the Salzburg cardiac surgeon Felix Unger, the archbishop from Vienna Franz König and the political scientist and philosopher Nikolaus Lobkowicz. On 7 March 1990, the academy was officially founded in Salzburg, where the academy is still located today.
The Festive Plenary of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts takes place annually with the festive admission of new members in Salzburg. On the occasion of the 25th- and 30th- anniversary the celebrations took place with the Federal Presidents of Austria and other Presidents of European countries. Other Protectors (national patrons) of the academy are King Philippe of Belgium, Borut Pahor (State President of Slovenia), Gjorge Ivanov (State President of Macedonia) and since 12 June 2018 Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen. Past Protectors include the former EU Commission President and Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jacques Santer, the former King of Spain Juan Carlos I, and the former EU Commission President and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi.
Vision and membership
The European Academy of Sciences and Arts is politically independent and financed by donations, private sponsors and public institutions. The activities of the academy do not aim at financial profit. The academy is a forum of scholars who take up interdisciplinarily and transdisciplinarily scientific topics with societal impact. Since 2020, the academy had circa 2000 academicians worldwide. These are respected and recommended scientists and artists, among them 38 Nobel Prize Laureates. New members are considered following nominations from existing members. The Senate decides on admission on the basis of recommendations of the nomination commission. The membership is considered as distinction of the merits in science and society.
Members are entitled to use the postnominal, MEASA. Famous members of the EASA include the economist Hans-Werner Sinn, Michail Gorbatschow (Nobel Peace Prize), the artist Jenny Holzer, and Pope em. Benedict XVI.
Current members who are Nobel Prize Laureates are as follows.
Zhores I. Alferov, Physics 2000
Werner Arber, Physiology or Medicine 1978
Gerd Binnig, Physics 1986
Emmanuelle Charpentier, Chemistry 2020
Aaron Ciechanover, Chemistry 2004
Paul J. Crutzen, Chemistry 1995
François Englert, Physics 2013
Gerhard Ertl, Chemistry 2007
Andre Geim, Physics 2010
Mikhail Gorbachev, Peace 1990
Peter Grünberg, Physics 2007
Theodor W. Hänsch, Physics 2005
Academicians
A full list of academicians of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts are accessible here.
Organisation
The academy is a non-profit association according to the Austrian Association. The current President of the academy is Klaus Mainzer who in 2020 followed the Founding President Felix Unger. The Vice presidents are Kristin De Troyer, Ioannis Liritzis, and Verica Trstenjak.
Members of the academy come from 73 countries and are divided into seven classes:
Class I: Humanities – Dean: Boštjan Marko Turk
Class II: Medicine – Dean: Dusan Suput
Class III: Arts – Dean: Elisabeth Gutjahr
Class IV: Natural Sciences – Dean: Monica Riva
Class V: Social Sciences, Law, and Economics – Dean: Alberto De Franceschi
Class VI: Technology and Environmental Sciences – Dean: Athanasios Vasilakos
Class VII: World Religions – Dean: Paul van Geest
Prize of Tolerance
Since 1997 the European Academy of Sciences and Arts has awarded the Prize of Tolerance to acknowledge the engagement for humanity and tolerance. Guided by the targets of the Charter of Tolerance, this prize is awarded to persons or institutions which actively engage for tolerance and humanness, but also for cross-border dialogue and against racism.
The previous award winners are:
1997 Teddy Kollek
1998 Suzanne Mubarak
1999 Franz Kardinal König
2000 Astrid N. Heiberg
2002 Dorothea Rosenblad
2003 Djibrail Kassab
2004 Daniel Barenboim
2005 Giandomenico Picco
2006 Hans-Dietrich Genscher
2007 Flavio Cotti
2008 Eugen Biser
2009 Klaus Töpfer
2010 Karl Kardinal Lehmann
2011 Daniel Barenboim
2013 Pedro Opeka
2015 Internationales Olympisches Komitee
2016 Roland Riz
2018 Marko Feingold
2019 Hans Peter Haselsteiner
2023 Felix Unger
Rings of Tolerance
Prize award of the Rings of Tolerance in the City Hall of Cologne
Since 2012, the academy annually awards the Rings of Tolerance to members of the three religions of Abraham according to Lessing's Parable of the Ring, in order to support justice and tolerance between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
The previous award winners are:
2012 Lord George Weidenfeld, Karl Cardinal Lehmann and Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh
2013 Evelyn de Rothschild, Friede Springer and Nemir Kirdar
2014 André Azoulay (Adviser of King Mohammed VI of Morocco), Hubert Burda and Prince Hassan of Jordan
2015 Xavier Guerrand-Hermès, Farah Pandith, Baron Harry Woolf
2016 Péter Cardinal Erdő, Uri Lubrani, Ismail Serageldin
2017 Avishay Braverman, Rabeya Müller, Mitri Raheb
2018 Katajun Amirpur, Esther Bejarano, Doris Leuthard
2019 Mouhanad Khorchide, Jan Assmann, Aleida Assmann
2021 Walter Homolka, Andrea Riccardi, Edmond Brahimaj
2022 Karl Josef Kuschel, İhsan Eliaçik, Lala Süßkind