La Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois de 1890 à 2015 (original) (raw)

2015, Bulletin de la Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois / Article + Corrigenda

The present ‘Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois’ (SNL) – the Luxembourg Naturalist Society – was founded in 1890 as ‘Fauna, Verein Luxemburger Naturfreunde’. In 1891, ‘Société des naturalistes luxembourgeois’ was added to the original name. The official founders were: Mathias Kraus, a schoolteacher in Luxembourg, Victor Ferrant, a miller in Mamer, Hubert Mullenberger, a railway employee in Luxembourg, Nicolas Leonardy, a catholic priest in Pfaffenthal, a suburb of the city of Luxembourg, and Jean Petermann, a railway employee in Wasserbillig ; cofounder was Charles Olm, head of office in the municipal administration of the city of Luxembourg. In the early years the activities of the society were restricted to the study of zoology, especially entomology, but, from 1896 on, all the natural sciences were covered. In 1907, the SNL merged with the ‘Société botanique grand-ducale de Luxembourg’ (Luxembourg Grand Ducal Botanic Society) and the epithet ‘Fauna’ was abandoned. In 1929 the SNL adapted its statutes and officially became a non-profit association. During the German occupation in World War II (1940-1944) the SNL ceased all activities, to be resumed in October 1945. The 25th and the 50th anniversaries of the society in 1915 and 1940 were more or less victims of World War I and World War II; fortunately no similar problems occurred for the 75th and the 100th anniversary celebrated in 1965 and 1990. The society’s successive chairmen were: Victor Ferrant, J. P. Joseph Koltz, Edmond J. Klein, Ernest Feltgen, Pierre Medinger, Félix Heuertz, Guillaume Rischard, François Léon Lefort, Eugène Beck (interim), Marcel Heuertz, Léopold Reichling, Jacques Bintz, Jos. Lahr and Claude Meisch. The present chairman is Christian Ries. The Society publishes a scientific bulletin since 1891 and is well-known for its conferences and excursions. Since 1907 there were specialised sections for botany (1907-1918), zoology (1907-1922), geology (1907-1929), and later also chemistry (1916-1929). More recently, research groups have been created for entomology (1974), mycology (1983) and botany (1988); additionally there was a short-lived phytosociology group from 1994 to 1996.