Science museum as a space for dialogue

The director of Germany’s Deutsches Museum talks about the importance of museums for establishing a scientific culture and disseminating knowledge.

By Samuel Antenor

Agência FAPESP – Founded in 1903 in Munich, the capital of the German state of Bavaria, the Deutsches Museum is one of the world’s oldest science and technology museums. Boasting a collection of 100,000 objects and over one million books and housed in a building that measures 73,000 square meters, it is the largest museum in Europe and brings together a vast collection of items related to discoveries and inventions made in Germany as well as other countries.

As the stage for FAPESP Week Munich in October 2014, the Deutsches Museum is currently hosting the Brazilian Nature – Mystery and Destiny exhibition on display until January 2015.

In an interview with Agência FAPESP, the museum’s director Wolfgang Heckl spoke about the importance of museums for the history of science and the role that museums play in educating the public and helping to establish a scientific culture and in the future of knowledge dissemination.

Agência FAPESP – What role do science museums play in terms of preserving memories and disseminating knowledge?
Wolfgang Heckl – Science and research museums such as the Deutsches Museum of Munich show the future of humanity based on science and technology. They contribute in a variety of ways to the education of young people and to increasing interest in studying science or technology as a way to contribute to a country’s wealth. The science museum space has been converted into an ideal location for a dialogue about history with future technologies involving the various aspects of cities and societies.

Agência FAPESP – At the Deutsches Museum, the collection has a huge library at its disposal. Is research an important part of the museum’s activities?
Heckl – Definitely. Altogether, we have more than 100,000 objects, distributed over 50 galleries; however, only approximately 30% of the collection is displayed on a permanent basis. For example, we have the first automobile in the world, the first photograph and the machinery of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen [the German physicist who discovered X-rays in 1895], the workbench of Otto Hahn [the German chemist who discovered uranium and nuclear fission], and the equipment used by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson [the U.S. winners of the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of cosmic radiation in deep microwaves, which allowed for the observation of the Big Bang]. Along with this precious collection, we have a library with over one million books, which is equivalent to more than five kilometers of material on scientific culture. Some of our exhibits are based on research carried out at the museum. For example, research studies in nanoscience are being displayed in a center for new technologies [open lab]. Our exhibition about the Anthropocene opened to the public on December 6, 2014 and is based on the findings of research conducted at the Rachel Carson Research Center, an interdisciplinary research center maintained by Ludwig Maximilian University (LNU) and the Deutsches Museum.

Agência FAPESP – Based on your experience at the Deutsches Museum, how do you see the public’s relationship with the science museum in terms of attendance and interest?
Heckl – Considering the challenges facing humanity and the planet with regards to energy, biodiversity, aging and sustainable development, among other things, the public has shown even more interest in learning about these topics at institutions that are considered independent such as science museums, empowering them to become politically active in these areas. Notably, we receive approximately 1.5 million visitors per year, half of whom come from other countries. This is one of the most visited museums in the world.

Agência FAPESP – Are there any Deutsches Museum projects or services in other countries? How can your collection be accessed by a larger public audience?
Heckl – The Google Cultural Institute project allows the public, even if far away, access to the museum from anywhere at any time. It is an important addition to our science communication activities.

Agência FAPESP – How do you view the gap between countries such as Germany with a long tradition of scientific dissemination and other countries that still have a long way to go in terms of scientific culture?
Heckl – Different cultures do not necessarily have different research and communication characteristics. In principle, there is no difference because science is universal. Brazil, for example, has performed well in terms of scientific generation, considering that agencies such as FAPESP began operating just over half a century ago. Additionally, the country has exceptional significance when referring to topics such as the preservation, restoration and sustainability of forests and natural resources. Therefore, scientific education plays an important role because it helps develop responsible actions driven not by money but by the society’s actual needs, with respect and accountability towards humanity and the future.

Agência FAPESP – The Deutsches Museum recently opened the Brazilian Nature exhibition, which will be on display until January 2015. How important is an exhibit such as this to the museum?
Heckl – It is important for emphasizing the long-standing science ties between the two countries. Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, a Bavarian-born naturalist, traveled throughout Brazil from 1817 – 1820, collecting and analyzing Brazilian flora. Some of this work may be viewed in the exhibition, which the Deutsches Museum has complemented with original books such as those by Joseph Jacob von Plenck about Brazilian flora, which are considered to be the basis for the pharmaceutical use of these plants and which, along with others, are among the most valuable volumes in our library. However, most important is the institutional complementarity between FAPESP, the exhibition organizer, and the Deutsches Museum, which allows our visitors access to a marvelous imaginary world of Brazilian nature, based on research, which makes people think about the fragile nature of Earth’s ecosystems and habitats. That is what is of the utmost relevance in the exhibition.

Agência FAPESP – Outside of the museum itself, how are question related to science viewed by people in their daily lives?
Heckl – Although people realize the importance of the contributions of science to the survival of a planet with more than 7 billion people, scientific culture needs to be constantly reinforced with collaboration between science museums, schools and universities. Political decisions are based on scientific issues, for which accumulated knowledge generates new approaches. This is only the case because global competition benefits in terms of quality when there is enough intellect to incorporate technical and scientific culture into the mentality and habits of the citizens.

Agência FAPESP – What is your background and how did it lead to your becoming the director of the Deutsches Museum?
Heckl – I earned my PhD in Physics in 1988 from the Technical University of Munich, where I’ve occupied the Oskar von Miller chair of Communication Sciences since 2009. I had the privilege of doing postdoctoral research at IBM with Physics Nobel laureate [1986] Gerd Binnig, and received my teaching qualifications at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics with the winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics Ted Hänsch. In 1993, I became a physics professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), where I’ve also had the pleasure of working with Brazilian physicists and have even hosted several post-docs from Brazil. In 2004, I received the Communicator Award from the German Society of Research Funding and the Descartes Prize for Science Communication. Following this very science-oriented path, I was elected general director of the Deutsches Museum, the largest science and technology museum in Europe and the most visited museum in Germany.

Agência FAPESP – In 2013, you published a book in Germany about the reuse and recovery of products as a way to raise public awareness, especially among young people, with regard to consumerism and the depletion of Earth’s resources.
Heckl – I wrote a book about the “the culture of repair” [“Die Kultur der Reparatur” is the original German title], which shows the activities underway at our museum aimed at young people regarding the importance of fixing and extending the useful life of products and the problems that arise from the large-scale consumption of natural resources. We are just beginning to tackle these issues in our communication at the Deutsches Museum. The topic is also discussed in our exhibition about the Anthropocene, which, in other words, is about how human action has changed the planet, showing the increasing need for people to learn how to live on the basis of sustainability, recycling and repair.

Agência FAPESP – Does the notion of controversy – according to which science is not made of truths but of paradigms that may be contested or supplanted – or the issue of planned obsolescence have any place in science communication?
Heckl – The planned obsolescence of products as well as the “do it yourself” movement and the sharing economy are topics present in daily life and in the public’s relationship with consumer goods, which is why they are described in my book. For example, household appliances that are considered old can be repaired many times and used again. This, which was perfectly normal for decades, is no longer the case because of the use of new materials and the resulting cheapening of the products. This has made the culture of making or repairing something on one’s own increasingly less common. However, there is currently a new approach to what it means to be a consumer and an owner of products that, when repaired, continue to keep us satisfied. Actually, the daily life of things results from ideas that present a cost and interfere in the consumer’s autonomy in the environment and in the conservation of natural resources. People need to understand that economic growth and the increase in industrial production in and of themselves are not the solution. There needs to be a balance between resources and the real necessities of production. In this equation, there is an even greater need for repairing goods and products.

Agência FAPESP – Is the public interested in reassessing their values and open to this discussion?
Heckl – Yes. In Germany, 25,000 copies of the book have been sold, and it is now being released in South Korea. These are strong economies, but economies that are very different. We plan to release the book in Latin America as well because the culture of repairing goods, objects and consumer products is becoming even more relevant in places where there is environmental awareness and sensitivity for balancing growth with sustainability. Additionally, the culture of science and knowledge is playing an increasingly larger role in societies, regardless of the level of a country’s economic development. For this culture to gain in strength, however, the dissemination of knowledge through science museums or other initiatives is becoming increasingly more important. Therefore, the role of the museum is not only to preserve history but also to awaken the human capacity to transform and preserve based on what we already know.