Prussian Academy of Sciences

An obligation from the new statute were public calls for ideas on unsolved scientific questions with a monetary reward for solutions.

The Academy acquired its own research facilities in the 18th century, including an observatory in 1709; an anatomical theater in 1717; a Collegium medico-chirurgicum in 1723; a botanical garden in 1718; and a laboratory in 1753.

A linguistics historian from Princeton University, Hans Aarsleff, notes that before Frederick ascended the throne in 1740, the academy was overshadowed by similar bodies in London and Paris.

However, the academy was in a crisis for two decades at mid-century, due to scandals and internal rivalries such as the debates between Newtonianism and Leibnizian views, and the personality conflicts between the philosopher Voltaire and the mathematician Maupertuis.

At a higher level, Maupertuis, the director from 1746 to 1759 and a monarchist, argued that the action of individuals was shaped by the character of the institution that contained them, and they worked for the glory of the state.

By contrast, d'Alembert took a republican rather than monarchical approach and emphasized the international Republic of Letters as the vehicle for scientific advance.

Under the rule of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, the Academy was subject to the Gleichschaltung, a "Nazification" process that was established to take totalitarian control over various aspects of society.