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Vienna: A Random Walk in Science

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The Physical Tourist

Abstract

Touring the scientific sites of Vienna is not an easy task. The physical tourist must be patient and take his or her time when tracing Vienna’s scientific heritage. It involves a kind of detective story: Tying together scattered facts and uncovering traces of international luminaries as well as of lesser lights to discern a pattern in the historical development of science in Vienna.

Wolfgang L. Reiter studied physics,mathematics and philosophy and received his Ph.D degree in nuclear physics from the Institut für Radiumforschung und Kernphysik at the University of Vienna in 1974. He was director of the natural sciences unit at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture and he is currently honorary professor for history of science at the University of Vienna. His interests are in the history of physics and the emigration of scientists from Austria.

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© 2009 Birkhäuser Verlag Basel, Switzerland

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Reiter, W.L. (2009). Vienna: A Random Walk in Science. In: Rigden, J.S., Stuewer, R.H. (eds) The Physical Tourist. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8933-8_10

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