The late social historian was an honorary member and long-time president of the Society of Friends of the OeAW.
Vienna (OTS) – The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) mourns the death of Hubert Christian Ehalt. The social historian died on December 27, 2023 at the age of 75. Ehalt was an honorary member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and long-time president of the Society of Friends of the OeAW.
ÖAW President Heinz Faßmann says: “Today we received the sad news that Hubert Christian Ehalt has died. Ehalt was a successful popular educator in a positive sense; he created the format of the Vienna lectures and made a great contribution to the promotion of science. Personally, I have a long-standing friendship with the deceased that goes back to their school days together. The fight against myths, prejudices and political propaganda was extremely important to him, and his trust in the enlightening power of science was unbroken. Ehalt worked tirelessly for science and the communication of its findings. His death is a great loss to the scientific community.”
Ehalt worked as a scientist and science educator for more than 40 years. He has written numerous books and articles in scientific journals. As President of the Society of Friends of the OeAW, he kept an eye on the networking of scientific disciplines, particularly at the numerous public events. The topics of the lectures ranged from Johann Strauss’ operettas to the effects of social media on our society.
Hubert Christian Ehalt was born in Vienna in 1949 and studied painting, history, art history, sociology, philosophy, psychology and education in Vienna. He completed his habilitation in modern social history at the University of Vienna. He was professor of modern social history at the University of Vienna, honorary professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and at the TU Vienna.
For his numerous achievements, he was awarded the “Bene Merito” medal from the ÖAW in 2007 and was elected an honorary member of the entire academy in 2013. Numerous other awards followed, such as the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres of France (2015), the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, 1st Class (2015), honorary citizenship of the University of Vienna (2016) and the Great Silver Medal of Honor for services to the State of Vienna (2018).
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Austrian Academy of Sciences
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