History

Today's "North German Mechanics Colloquium" emerged from the "Lower Saxony Mechanics Colloquium", the nucleus of which was in Braunschweig.

After the war (since 1946 ?), an internal "Colloquium for Mechanics". Schaefer's colleague, the Hanoverian mechanics professor Otto Flachsbarth, wanted to set up something similar in Hanover, and so in 1947 the first informative meeting with colloquium character of the Hanoverian and Braunschweig mechanics took place in Braunschweig, which was organized by Schaefer's assistant.

Even then, at a time when the appropriate stamps were still required to buy food, clear broth and buttered rolls were offered during the breakfast break (an indication of organizational talent)!

In the early years - the mathematical aspect was more important at the time - the group was expanded to include the Clausthal (Chair of Mathematics and Mechanics, Eberhard Mettler) and Göttingen (Max Planck Institute and AVA, Walter Tollmien) locations, and from 1951 at the latest, the "Lower Saxony Mechanics Colloquium" became a permanent institution, which was held alternately at the four locations each semester.
The Berlin colleagues, as "islanders", had been welcome guests at the colloquium since 1968; Berlin as a venue would have proved too difficult - five years after the Wall was built. The name was adapted: "Mechanics Colloquium Lower Saxony-Berlin".
In the meantime, the clear broth had long since become a real soup, the buttered rolls had given way to sandwiches.

1978 the circle was expanded to include Hamburg (Bw University of Applied Sciences); from then on, the term "North German Mechanics Colloquium" was commonly used.
Later, the universities from Bremen, Kassel and Hamburg were added. The last expansion (1994) of the North German Mechanics Colloquium was due to German reunification with the addition of the university locations of Magdeburg and Rostock.the universities in Magdeburg and Rostockto a total of ten participants.

In 2023, Professor Reinhold Kienzler gave a historical overview at the summer semester event in Kassel to mark the 150th North German Mechanics Colloquium. This can be found in the attached slides again.