The Anatomische Gesellschaft originally existed as a section of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte since September 28, 1822. It was officially founded as a separate entity on September 23, 1886 with 40 members, Albert von Koelliker becoming its first president. The first official meeting took place in Leipzig in 1886, the membership having increased to 174 by that time, 74 of which lived abroad.
Although the Anatomische Gesellschaft was and still is based in Germany, it has never been a solely German society. Already in 1902 the larger proportion of members (240) came from outside Germany. Up until World War II there were 395 official members of the society. After the war, on April 26, 1949 the Anatomische Gesellschaft was founded anew. There has been an enormous increase in the number of members since this time, reaching its highest level of 1050 active participants in 2003. Currently the society consists of about 800 members (2012).
The most important event of the Anatomische Gesellschaft is it annual meeting, each third to fourth having taken place aboard. Each meeting is opened with an address from the presiding president, heretofore, including prominent anatomists from the USA, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and of course Germany. The opening speech reports on the most current developments in the anatomical sciences. The meetings in the past have repeatedly focussed on such demanding subjects as cell structure, cell metabolism, the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis, the placenta, deformations, hemopoiesis, to name just a few.
Since its foundation, the publishing organ of the society has been the Anatomischer Anzeiger (now „Annals of Anatomy”). It came into being in 1886, having been founded by German-speaking anatomists who welcomed submitted articles in English, French, Italian, Latin and Russian (since 1976) and of course in German. Today all articles are published in English.
Renowned anatomists from all nations, countries and continents of the world as well as representative scientists from other related branches outside anatomy have been and are members of the Anatomische Gesellschaft.
Current Board (2010-2014)
Prof. Dr. med. Tobias M. Böckers (Education), Institut fuer Anatomie und Zellbiologie, Universität Ulm, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, D-89069 Ulm, Tel: 0049/731/500-23221, Fax: 0049/731/500-232179, tobias.boeckers@uni-ulm.de
Prof. Dr. med. Ernst R. Tamm (International Affairs), Universität Regensburg, Lehrstuhl für Anatomie II: Humananatomie und Embryologie, Universitätsstraße 31, D-93053 Regensburg, Tel.: 0049/941/943-2839, Fax: 0049/941/943-2840, ernst.tamm@vkl.uni-regensburg.de
Prof. Dr. med. Hermann-Josef Rothkötter (Publicity), Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg, Medizinische Fakultät, Institut für Anatomie, Leipziger Straße 44, D-39120 Magdeburg, Tel.: 0049/391/67-13600, Fax: 0049/391/67-13630, hermann-josef.rothkoetter@med.ovgu.de
Prof. Dr. med. Karlhans Endlich (Research), Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Institut für Anatomie und Zellbiologie, Friedrich-Loeffler-Straße 23c, D-17487 Greifswald, Tel.: 0049/3834/865300, Fax: 0049/3834/865302, karlhans.endlich@uni-greifswald.de
Prof. Dr. med. Friedrich Paulsen (Secretary), Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Anatomie, LST II Universitätsstraße 19, D-91054 Erlangen, Tel.: 0049/9131/8522865, Fax: 0049/9131/8522862,
friedrich.paulsen@anatomie2.med.uni-erlangen.de
