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Hans Walz Award Ceremony for Research on the History of Homeopathy

Stuttgart, 26 November 2019 (by Marion Baschin) — The 2019 Hans Walz Award for research on the history of homeopathy went to Dr Ines Winterhagen. Since 2003 the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation has awarded the international prize worth 1,500 Euros to promote research on the history of homeopathy outside the institute and honour outstanding work in this field. On 22 November 2019, the award was handed over in a special ceremony.

As such, the award is awarded for the first time for a research work dealing with the history of pharmacies and of pharmaceutical aspects of homeopathy. Winterhagen studied pharmacy at the Philipps-Universität Marburg and has been working as a pharmacist in various public pharmacies in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg since 2003. She is also a member of the Education and Training Committee and the Examination Committee of the Landes-Apothekerkammer Baden-Württemberg.

The award-winning PhD thesis entitled ‘Homöopathische Apotheken in Württemberg von den Anfängen bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg’ (‘Homeopathic Pharmacies in Württemberg from the Beginning to the First World War’) was supervised at the Technical University of Braunschweig. On the basis of a previously unused recipe collection of a pharmacy in Schwäbisch Hall and other sources, Winterhagen impressively traces the history of homeopathic pharmacies and their products in relation to factors such as physicians, the state and the laity.

The award is funded by the Hans Walz Foundation which has been an integrative part of the Robert Bosch Foundation since 1985. Hans Walz (1883–1974) worked closely with Robert Bosch Sr and was for many years managing director of the Robert Bosch Company and a trustee of Stuttgart Homeopathic Hospital. Throughout his life he was committed, professionally as well as personally, to the advancement of homeopathy.

The Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation (IGM) with domicile in Stuttgart was established in 1980 and is the only organisation of its kind without university affiliation in Germany. Its main field of research are the social history of medicine and the history of homeopathy. The Institute is home to a library of over 60,000 volumes and the Homeopathy Archives which hold Samuel Hahnemann's estate as well as records of national and international homeopathic organisations.