Press releases
No, 2001/158 of the 28.09.2001
Bereich:
Personalia
Sachgebiet:
Geowissenschaften
Lichtenberger awarded honorary doctor's degree
Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Elisabeth Lichtenberger
Today, the evening before
the 53rd Conference of German Geographers in Leipzig, an honorary doctor's degree
was conferred upon Professor Dr. Dr. Ms. Elisabeth Lichtenberger, Vienna, by the
Faculty of Physics and Geosciences of the University of Leipzig
Time: 28.09.2001, 4 p.m.
Location: Rektoratsgebäude
Alter Senatssaal
Ritterstraße 26
In her laudatory speech, Professor Ms. Helga Schmidt of the
Institute of Geography of the University of Leipzig, acknowledged Ms Lichtenberger
as an distinguished personality in European geography having significantly
influenced the development of her discipline, particularly by her inspirational
research in the fields of urban and regional geography. The wide range of
topics of Lichtenberger's more than 20 books and 220 publications was mentioned:
from cultural landscapes studies to regional, especially Alpine, research
and to questions of political geography and research on the geography of
the future around a substantial core of urban studies. At the subsequent
Conference Lichtenberger would deliver the central lecture on "Why does
society need cities?" In the next few days, moreover, her new book
" Die Stadt; Von der Polis zur Metropolis." will appear.
Particularly deserving mention are the valuable work done by Lichtenberger
from 1972 to 1995 as Professor of Geography at the Institute of Geography
and Regional Research of the University of Vienna, where she established
the special field of Applied Geography, Area Studies and Spatial Development,
in addition to founding the Institute for Urban and Regional Research at
the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
The honorary doctor's degree was also a token of recognition for Lichtenberger's
long-standing good contacts with Leipzig University. Even before 1989,
she had enabled Leipzig geographers to spend research time in Vienna and
countered their isolation by organizing joint workshops. Following the
demise of the GDR, Lichtenberger actively supported the re-establishment
of the geographical sciences at the time-honoured location of Leipzig,
Five years ago the Institute of Geography of the University of Leipzig,
which was closed in 1968 in the context of the reform of higher education
in the GDR, was re-opened again. By now over 400 students have graduated
from the diploma study course and, given the heavy demand, a university
numerus clausus has had to be restored.
Kontakt
Pressestelle
Volker
Schulte
Ritterstraße 26
04109 Leipzig