Office of Science & Technology

Institutions

The Max F. Perutz Laboratories - or How to Make a Successful Research Unit and the World a More Exciting Place

bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Institutions & Organizations
by Caroline Adenberger and Irene Eckart

When telling someone a story, it is always a good idea to start from the beginning. In the case of the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) in Vienna, the story doesn't just begin with their establishment in Spring 2005, but with the person whose name they carry: Max F. Perutz, a chemist who was born in 1914 in Austria and won the 1962 Nobel Prize in chemistry. The question is whether Perutz' achievements in molecular biology - undeniably remarkable - are the only reason for the Laboratories' name. There appear to be further similarities between Perutz and the laboratories that bear his name, such as a certain way of doing things . . .

bridges vol. 9, April 2006 / Institutions & Organizations
by Irene Eckart

Vienna, Schwarzenbergplatz 6, Palais Fanto - a neoclassical Ringstraßenpalais, formerly seat of the Austrian Federal Alcohol Monopoly. This, rather unexpectedly, is the place from which the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) provides Europe with an independent source of policy analysis with respect to the needs, capabilities, and long-term perspectives in space. Austria is unlikely to show up on anybody's short list for space powers, and Vienna is not the first place to look for a think tank devoted to space issues. Nevertheless, the country's geographical situation in the heart of Europe makes it attractive for a variety of international organizations with space involvement: the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Wessenar Arrangement on export controls for conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, and - the youngest of them all - ESPI.

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