KIEL, GERMANY–It is always interesting for an academic to visit another college or university … and we get many opportunities. The International Bryozoology Association meeting is being held at the Christian Albrechts Universität zu Kiel (University of Kiel for most English speakers) in northern Germany. It was founded in 1665 and later became one of the most important universities in Prussia. It presently has 23,000 students and a strong science program.
You may ask why such an old university has no buildings built before 1945? You know the answer. The original campus was heavily bombed in World War II. (Kiel was an important German naval base, especially for U-boats.) This new campus was moved to another location where the only signs of the old are occasional relics like the statue below.
Statue of Aristotle on the pre-1945 campus (left); same statue pulled from the wartime rubble and displayed on the new campus.
The Geology Department here has a small museum with a modern design featuring lots of natural light. It is a very pleasant and quiet place to have a meeting such as this.
Geology museum at the University of Kiel with glass walls facing east.
A Silurian reef display from Gotland, Sweden. This is very similar to the reefs Wooster students worked with in Estonia last year.
A modern lava pillow for Meagen and other petrologists. "Aus 2700 m Tiefe mit Fernsehgreifer geborgen, Mittelatlantischer Rücken nördlich Jan Mayen."
I appreciate (and enjoy) your attention to place. The physical environment is a residue of history and culture, like a fossil in stone bearing the imprint of the organism.
Awesome pillow lava. The Mittelatlantischer Rücken is one of my favorite places on Earth. Enjoy the rest of your trip!