About GNS - History

In 1993, the Neurowissenschaftliche Gesellschaft e. V. (NWG) /German Neuroscience Society (GNS) was registered as a non-profit organization at the Charlottenburg district court of Berlin, after a two year founding period full of constructive and sometimes controversial discussions.

During the last two decades of the past millennium, neurosciences developed into a core discipline of biology and medicine. Neuroscience research helps us to further understand many aspects of life, from basic subcellular processes, to complex behavior. It helped build a foundation for research on several diseases, with impacts of this research growing at a pace on par with increases in life expectancy (e.g. neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s). Moreover, the brain and its neural networks have become a model for computer algorithms.

The nineties of the past millennium were thus proclaimed the “Decade of the Brain” by the US Senate and President, in order to frame the rapid developments and advancements in neuroscience research. This was most impressively reflected in the growth and attractiveness of the American Society for Neuroscience (SfN). At the same time, similar developments unfolded in Europe: the European Neuroscience Association (ENA) was founded, and many smaller national societies were also formed, such as the German Neuroscience Society (Neurowissenschaftliche Gesellschaft e.V., GNS), which was founded in Germany in 1993, after the reunification.

Neuroscientists work in a variety of disciplines, e.g. in molecular, cellular or developmental biology, in institutes of zoology, anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, psychology, pathology, or pharmacy. They perform research at clinics for neurology, neurosurgery and psychiatry. Fostering interactions between all of these fields is one goal ot the German Neuroscience Society.