science

Giordano Bruno Foundation

Giordano Bruno Foundation is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Giordano Bruno Foundation rather than just read about it. In short: The Giordano Bruno Foundation (German: Giordano-Bruno-Stiftung, abbreviated: gbs) is a Germany-based non-profit foundation under public law that promotes evolutionary humanism and the enlightenment. It was founded by entrepreneur Herbert Steffen in 2004 and was named after Giordano Bruno.

Key takeaways

Giordano Bruno Foundation belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Giordano Bruno Foundation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Giordano Bruno Foundation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Giordano Bruno Foundation (German: Giordano-Bruno-Stiftung, abbreviated: gbs) is a Germany-based non-profit foundation under public law that promotes evolutionary humanism and the enlightenment. It was founded by entrepreneur Herbert Steffen in 2004 and was named after Giordano Bruno. Cofounder and spokesperson is Michael Schmidt-Salomon. He has formed the Executive Board with Ulla Wessels since 2022. The foundation has more than 10,000 supporting members and 50 regional and university groups.

Goals The Giordano Bruno Foundation advocates the position of Evolutionary Humanism, as formulated in the Manifesto of Evolutionary Humanism (German: Manifest des Evolutionären Humanismus), which was published by Michael Schmidt-Salomon in 2005 and sold around 50,000 copies. In the manifesto, Schmidt-Salomon pleads for a naturalistic philosophy. He starts from a naturalistic concept of the cosmos in which there are no interventions of supernatural creatures (e. g. gods, demons, witches or goblins) in world events by way of miracles. The manifesto outlines, that humanity will be able to create more life-friendly, free, and just conditions than can be found today. The concept can be traced to the work of Julian Huxley, the first UNESCO Director General and a major contributor to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Activities Starting with the 2005 series of events “Heathen fun rather than Hell’s torture” (“Heidenspaß statt Höllenqual”) on the occasion of the Catholic World Youth Day in Cologne, the gbs has been addressing a wide range of topics around humanism, enlightenment and the principles of a scientific world view in many highly publicized campaigns and events. A chronology and the documentary "In Humanity We Trust – The story of evolutionary humanism" provide information on the most important events in the history of the foundation. The gbs and its regional and university groups organize about 150 events per year throughout Germany. In 2007, the gbs supported the founding of the Central Council of Ex-Muslims (German: Zentralrat der Ex-Muslime), which inspired similar movements in other countries; in 2012, the campaign “Against Religious Discrimination at the Workplace” (German: Gegen religiöse Diskriminierung am Arbeitsplatz, GerDiA); in 2013, the project Evokids - Evolution in Primary School; in 2017, the founding of the Institute for Secular Law (German: Institut für Weltanschauungsrecht, ifw); and in 2017, the founding of the Atheist Refugee Relief (German: Säkulare Flüchtlingshilfe).

Funding The gbs is funded by private donors and publishes information on its annual financial data and its assets. In 2018, the total assets were around 4,000,000 euros. The expenditure in 2018 was 628,000 euros, mainly for events and projects.

Board of directors The board of directors consists of Michael Schmidt-Salomon (since 2004) and Ulla Wessels (since 2022). Founder Herbert Steffen (1934 - 2022) was board director until 2022. Managing director is Elke Held and the foundation has 14 employees and scholars. The board of trustees consists of Thorsten Barnickel, Jacqueline Neumann, Christian Pawlu, Rainer Rosenzweig and Assunta Tammelleo.

Advisory board The advisory board is composed by around 30 scientists, philosophers and artists, including:

Deschner Prize From its beginnings the foundation has been particularly committed to the work of Karlheinz Deschner. It awards the "Deschner Prize” at the sum of 10,000 euros for outstanding achievements relating to the criticism of religion and ideology. The prize was awarded to Richard Dawkins (2007) and to Raif Badawi and his wife Ensaf Haidar (2016).

References

External links Giordano Bruno Foundation (in English) Giordano Bruno Foundation (in German)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Giordano Bruno Foundation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Giordano Bruno Foundation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Giordano Bruno Foundation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Giordano Bruno Foundation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Giordano Bruno Foundation

In research: Giordano Bruno Foundation appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Giordano Bruno Foundation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Giordano Bruno Foundation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Giordano Bruno, Humanist associations, Organizations established in 2004, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Giordano Bruno Foundation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Giordano Bruno Foundation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Giordano Bruno Foundation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Giordano Bruno Foundation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Giordano Bruno Foundation in simple terms?

Why does Giordano Bruno Foundation matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Giordano Bruno Foundation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Giordano Bruno Foundation.