5 Preface How can we hope to understand a world that has become increasingly digital and global and its material organization has become more and more complex? What challenges arise from rapid technological developments? How can we explain our present, while also reflecting on the future? And what is the role of arts, sciences and engineering in global processes of transformation? As a university, TUD Dresden University of Technology aims to provide answers by discussing, defining, investigating, and researching such issues. Documenting an almost 200-year history of generating and teaching knowledge, TUD’s extensive collections of objects from the natural sciences and engineering as well as its art collection bear testimony to who we are as a university. Exhibits from the early 19th century connect the history of scientific knowledge with current research. When objects of the past tell us a story that may give rise to novel research approaches, they even have an influence on future technologies: Thanks to methods of DNA sequencing, genetic changes in plants can now be reconstructed using historical herbarium specimens, whereas experimental equipment for speech synthesis that is decades old inspires new approaches for generating computer voices. TUD’s rich collections are of outstanding value and significance as starting points for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborations at both the international and local level between engineering, the natural sciences and the humanities. As objects of societal transfer, they serve as interfaces that convey and embed topics relevant to the future both within and beyond scientific communities. Our Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections plays a central role in preserving the collections, making them accessible, analyzing them and ultimately integrating them into research and art projects. For the first time, by establishing a collection data base and a team of restorers, a permanent basis has been created for consolidating our academic culture of objects. This volume was first published in 2015, and has now been revised and updated for the new edition. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all those involved: The authors and Dr. Klaus Mauersberger, who was the project leader for the first edition, the team and leadership of the Office for Academic Heritage, Scientific and Art Collections for their editing and implementation, and the “Sandstein Verlag” for the professional design and production of the volume. My special thanks go to the Association of Friends and Sponsors of TUD (GFF), which once again provided the funding and has demonstrated particular commitment to our collections in recent years in the form of special sponsorship projects. In addition, I would like to thank all those who – mostly alongside their professional activities or on a voluntary basis in retirement – have dedicated themselves to caring for the diverse collections of TUD and making them accessible. Professor Dr. Ursula M. Staudinger Rector TUD Dresden University of Technology
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