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Scientific-Humanitarian Committee

Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee rather than just read about it. In short: The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (German: Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) was a transnational advocacy group and civil rights organization founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for the legal rights and social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and against their institutionalized discrimination and persecution in Western societies. It was th…

Scientific-Humanitarian Committee — main illustration
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee — illustration

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (German: Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) was a transnational advocacy group and civil rights organization founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for the legal rights and social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, and against their institutionalized discrimination and persecution in Western societies. It was the first LGBT rights organization in history. The motto of the organization was Per scientiam ad justitiam ("Through science to justice"), and the committee included representatives from various professions. The committee's membership peaked at about 700 people. In 1929, Kurt Hiller took over as chairman of the group from Hirschfeld. At its peak, the WhK had branches in approximately 25 cities in Weimar Germany, the Republic of Austria, and the Netherlands.

History

The WhK was founded in Berlin-Charlottenburg, a locality of Berlin, on 14 or 15 May 1897 (about four days before Oscar Wilde's release from prison) by Magnus Hirschfeld, a German physician, sexologist, and outspoken advocate for gender and sexual minorities. Original members of the WhK included Hirschfeld, publisher Max Spohr, lawyer Eduard Oberg, and writer Franz Joseph von Bülow. Adolf Brand, Benedict Friedländer, Hermann von Teschenberg and Kurt Hiller also joined the organization. A split in the organization occurred in December 1906, led by Friedländer.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Scientific-Humanitarian Committee: The July 1914 edition of the Yearbook for Intermediate Sexual Types
The July 1914 edition of the Yearbook for Intermediate Sexual Types
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee: Vita homosexualis, a 1902 collection of August Fleischmann's popular pamphlets on third gender and against §175 – a Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee library copy, confiscated on 6 May 1933, annotated on the endpaper: By Reichspräsident's decree of 28.02.1933 destined for destruction! and hidden from the publique (label "Secr.") as Nazi plunder by the Prussian State Library. This book, and other that may have survived the destruction of the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee and the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, are sought after by the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft in Berlin.[8]
Vita homosexualis, a 1902 collection of August Fleischmann's popular pamphlets on third gender and against §175 – a Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee library copy, confiscated on 6 May 1933, annotated on the endpaper: By Reichspräsident's decree of 28.02.1933 destined for destruction! and hidden from the publique (label "Secr.") as Nazi plunder by the Prussian State Library. This book, and other that may have survived the destruction of the Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee and the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, are sought after by the Magnus-Hirschfeld-Gesellschaft in Berlin.[8]

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Scientific-Humanitarian Committee

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee

In research
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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
Scientific-Humanitarian Committee is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1897 establishments in Germany, 1910s establishments in Austria, 1920s establishments in the Netherlands, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Scientific-Humanitarian Committee means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Scientific-Humanitarian Committee out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Scientific-Humanitarian Committee in simple terms?

The Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (German: Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) was a transnational advocacy group and civil rights organization founded by Magnus Hirschfeld in Berlin in May 1897, to campaign for the legal rights and social recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans…

Why does Scientific-Humanitarian Committee 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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee?

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 Scientific-Humanitarian Committee.

Tags

  • 1897 establishments in Germany
  • 1910s establishments in Austria
  • 1920s establishments in the Netherlands
  • 19th century in LGBTQ history
  • 20th century in LGBTQ history
  • Defunct LGBTQ political advocacy groups
  • First homosexual movement
  • LGBTQ organizations disestablished in the 20th century
  • LGBTQ political advocacy groups in Austria
  • LGBTQ political advocacy groups in Germany
  • LGBTQ political advocacy groups in the Netherlands
  • Magnus Hirschfeld

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