The Idea
© Knowledge and Space
Initiated in 2005 by the geographer Prof. Peter Meusburger at Heidelberg University and generously supported by SAP co-founder Klaus Tschira and his foundation, the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, Knowledge and Space set out to bridge disciplinary divides and sensitize scholars from across the humanities and social sciences to the spatial dimensions of knowledge. Rather than hosting large conferences, Meusburger envisioned a small, invitation-only forum where world-class thinkers could meet without audience pressure - an “experiment worth a try,” as he called it. Over the following two decades, Peter Meusburger and his successor Prof. Johannes Glückler organized 20 symposia that gathered nearly 300 researchers from around the world to debate how geography influences science and society. The results were tangible: new scholarly networks, collaborative publications, and a globally recognized book series that collectively redefined how academics think about the relationship between knowledge and space.
Read more about the intention - and the outcomes - of the project
The Sponsor
© Knowledge and Space
Knowledge and Space would not have been possible without the generous support by the Klaus Tschira Foundation and its late founder Klaus Tschira. The foundation, created in 1995, is dedicated to promote and support natural sciences, mathematics and informatics, epecially in the fields of innovative research, education and science communication. Not only did the foundation provide the financial support for realizing this long-term effort to foster scholarly knowledge exchange and creation, but also hosted the symposia in the Studio Villa Bosch, located directly next to the home of the late Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Carl Bosch in Heidelberg.
The Organizers
© Knowledge and Space
In 2005, Prof. Peter Meusburger started the symposia series, with his successor Prof. Johannes Glückler taking over in 2013. The series continued for the duration of 20 years of annual meetings in Heidelberg. Meusburger and Glückler both were professors at the Institute of Geography at Heidelberg University. The symposia were realized with the substantial support of numerous colleagues, academic staff, and student assistants, who invited participants, prepared the venue, organized the program, and compiled the contributions for the Knowledge and Space book series. We sincerely thank all colleagues, academic staff, and student assistants who, over the past two decades, contributed their time, expertise, and commitment to making this long-running series possible.