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When the Austrian National Library (ÖNB) launched "Anno" in August 2003 under the direction of Christa Müller with 15 digitized newspapers, the research was still analogue. You could access them, sorted chronologically or by newspaper title, and browse page by page. An enormous progress, going to the national library had become obsolete. The ÖNB was therefore open around the clock. Today there are 27 million pages online, and the trend is rising rapidly, with more hits being added every year, with a gap of 70 years since today (Copyright). The ÖNB is the leader in scanned newspapers with “Anno”. Around 4,000 users use “Anno” every day.
The full-text search, which has existed since 2013, can – provided you have a certain level of curiosity – become an addictive factor. The result is a sometimes unmanageable number of hits. Many things were never looked for, but the evaluation is worthwhile and brings new aspects and unexpected insights.
The example of Eduard Suess (1831–1914), one of the most dazzling scientists (geologists) in the second half of the 19th century, who was also successful as a politician and long-time President of the Academy of Sciences, reveals facets of his personality that were hardly known until now. Cartoons show him in the context of the first Vienna high spring pipeline, which was opened on October 24, 1873.
If you search for the words "Eduard Suess" in "Anno", you will come up with an unmanageable number of hits with over 120,000 entries with many useless entries. However, a search with the following string "Eduard Suess"~10 brings exactly 9,096 hits; the query "Prof. Suess"~10 (2,763 hits) is also recommended.
Newspapers reporting on his death on April 26, 1914 are listed near the top (“relevance”). The Neue Freie Presse had 35 hits on April 27, 1914. The level of detail in the reporting is astonishing. "The body of the scholar was laid out this morning in the death house in the 2nd district, Afrikanergasse, in the deceased's study, which was lined with black cloths, in a sarcophagus on both sides of which there were many tall silver candlesticks with burning candles." (Frenden-Blatt, April 27, 1914). It is hardly surprising that there is a chronology here of Suess' last days and hours, which were marked by heart failure, bronchitis and severe fever.
In the issue of April 28th, in addition to letters of condolence from well-known representatives of the public (Minister of Education, Mayor of the City of Vienna, Rector of the University of Vienna), there is also, in the original wording, the reason for the rejection of an honorary grave by the City of Vienna, "since, according to the last wish of the deceased, the burial should take place on his Hungarian property in Marczfalva [today: March in the Mattersburg district]".
His death provided an opportunity for memories and anecdotes, which - often enriched with quotes from the deceased - made Suess seem alive again. The aforementioned Fremden-Blatt (April 28, 1914) looked back to January 1892, when "Suess spoke about the education of young people." The scholar, father of five sons and two daughters, knew what he was talking about. He attached great importance to physical exercise. "I'm a fan of gymnastics, but I prefer ball games and fencing lessons. Above all, I would like to put foot trips, simply because they offer the young man the opportunity to interact with different classes of people and the opportunity to have lasting experiences of his own."
As a scientist, Suess was honored as early as 1860 by his friend and mentor Franz von Hauer (1822–1899). The latter named the ammonite Rhabdoceras suessi from the Salzkammergut after the ambitious young researcher. On the occasion of his 80th birthday, on August 20, 1911, Alfred Stern from Baden made people sit up and take notice with the question: "Why doesn't one of the beautiful viaducts along the Southern Railway line bear the name Eduard Sueß Viaduct, just as the viaducts and tunnels of the Semmering Railway bear the name of their builders?" (Neue Freie Presse, August 20, 1911). Of course he wasn't the first. The Leopoldstädter Montags-Zeitung (January 20, 1890) set out in its editorial “An alley to merit!” vehemently advocates honoring the "immortal great Professor Sueß" by renaming a street: "In our opinion, two streets would be particularly suitable for this purpose: Praterstrasse and Taborstrasse."
There has been an Eduard-Sueß-Gasse in Vienna's 15th district since 1947. Originally (since 1888) it was called Sueßgasse, named after Friedrich Sueß (1833 to 1907), leather manufacturer and brother of the geologist. Ten years after the scholar's death, the call for a monument became louder: "Vienna needs a monument for Eduard Sueß" (Neues Wiener Tagblatt, May 25, 1924). A Suess monument would have served as a role model because, according to the Tagblatt: "To this day, Vienna does not have a monument to a natural scientist."
In fact, four years later, the time had come: on September 19, 1928, the monument (sculptor: Franz Seifert) was unveiled at Schwarzenbergplatz. In addition to the joy, there was also criticism: "What must be accused of the monument opposite the Hochstrahlbrunnen is that the artist was not given the opportunity to immortalize the greatness of the man's thought and the significance of his work through the monument," writes Der Tag on September 20, 1928, and continues: "And an inadequate, modest monument, which cannot possibly embody the greatness of the work, is intended to express Vienna's gratitude. (...) Therein lies the inadequacy of the monument - which cannot be attributed to the artist, but rather to the ingratitude of the people of Vienna, who, despite public appeals, refused the committee and the artist the funds."
Three years later, on the occasion of Suess' 100th birthday, a true visionary emerged in the person of the sculptor Mario Petrucci (1893 to 1972), an Italian native of Ferrara. The Wiener Allgemeine Zeitung (August 21, 1931) had the headline "Hundred Eduard Suess Monuments" and let the sculptor have his say: "Around the basin profile of the Suess monument, lighting fixtures are installed around the basin profile of the Suess monument, in the same way as the high-jet fountain, so that on festival nights both monuments would glow and roar in bright, blazing colors." Countless (“100”) other smaller branch monuments, scattered throughout Vienna, were intended to expand the monument at Schwarzenbergplatz.
The Wiener Zeitung played a pioneering role when it came to science reporting. This contains many reports on the founding of scientific organizations, from the Academy of Sciences, which can be found in the issue of May 17, 1847, to the Radium Institute on October 28, 1910, where Suess gave a speech as President of the Academy of Sciences.
The results of the scientific meetings - for example those of geologists that took place on Tuesdays in the Geological Institute (today: Geosphere Austria) - were first printed in the Wiener Zeitung before they were published in specialist journals. The minutes of the meeting of November 30, 1852, which appeared promptly on Friday, December 3, are selected. The 21-year-old Suess was among the scientists present at the time. He gave a lecture on Spirifera, a group of animals called brachiopods, and introduced three new species.
For many years, the Wiener Zeitung published course catalogs in the summer and winter semesters. Current changes were also communicated via the media. Suess found himself unable to give lectures in the winter semester of 1883/84; his obligations "as a member of the Reichsrat and state parliament, as a member of the Austrian delegation and as a municipal councilor" prevented him from academic teaching (Die Presse, October 14, 1883). Humorous reports about excursions, such as "A geological May trip" (Die Presse, May 18, 1878) by Franz von Noe, a student of Eduard Suess, are still worth reading today.
Both scholars and editors reported in various sections of the newspapers. In addition to an “Official Part” and a “Miscellaneous News” section, the Wiener Zeitung also had a section for “Science, Art and Public Life” (as a regular supplement from February 1, 1862). Here Suess wrote about "The artesian wells in the Sahara desert" (August 11, 1858). He used a French-language specialist article as a basis, which he reproduced in simplified terms. In the language of today's science, a "review". That was the beginning. On December 24th and 25th, 1858, a two-part article “On the construction of artesian wells in Vienna” followed. The additional information is important: "From the series of recent Monday lectures on recent advances in the natural sciences, held in the building of the Imperial Academy of Sciences." These lectures were one of the numerous initiatives from the middle of the 19th century to make science accessible to a wider audience.
Reports from editors who were present at events conveyed not only the content but also the atmosphere and mood in the auditorium. An example is the Neue Fremden-Blatt from December 30, 1874, which reported on a lecture by Suess entitled “On the Wandering of Organic Beings”. It is noted in advance "in what masterful and attractive way the speaker masters the difficult material." In doing so, the brilliant speaker impressed the “intelligentsia of Vienna”. This becomes even more important “in view of the large female audience”. Then passages from Suess's lecture are played back, which provide insight into the lecture at the time. What followed was: “Stormy, sustained applause.”
Texts by Suess were also occasionally featured in the "feuilleton" on page one, such as his treatise "Ueber den Löß" (Neue Freie Presse, March 23, 1866). In comparison to the spoken lecture, the written work reads much more cumbersome, as the first sentence shows: "Humans' increasing domination over nature, which we usually call culture, has also brought about a complete transformation of our views on the value of individual natural products to the extent that experiences about the usability of raw materials have changed."
Thanks to “Anno,” the world of science appears more colorful. Whenever and wherever it is accessed, “Anno” brings to light something amazing, wonderful and personal that we no longer want to do without. (Thomas Hofmann, October 19, 2023)