Seite - 68 - in Nikola Tesla and the Graz Tech

68 The ‘Joanneum’, founded by Archduke Johann (1782 – 1859) in 1811 in the spirit of the Enlightenment and according to the new ideas of progress at the time, is the oldest and – after the Kunsthistorische Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna – the second biggest museum complex in Austria. As a universal and state museum with over 4.5 million items in its collection, the Joanneum has a mission to provide a comprehensive picture of the development of the history, natural history and culture of the state of Styria through its collections in its role as a scientific and cultural institution. The journey from an Inner Austrian ‘national museum’ combined with a nat- ural sciences and technology teaching institution to the present Universal- museum Joanneum GmbH has, despite a number of changes of course, been completely successful. The institution has always been developing into a broadly based, public-oriented and modern establishment for its visitors. But let us look back to its beginnings at the turn of the 19th century. Archduke Johann began his statutes for the Joanneum with the general state- ment ‘Constant development and unrelenting progress are the goal of each individual, each institute of state, and therefore of humanity’ because ‘stand- ing still and remaining behind in the vibrant life of the constantly changing spectacle of the world...’ are ‘the same.’ This observation is particularly true for the history of the Joanneum. But one has to take into account that devel- opment goes forward in leaps and bounds; it does not have to be evolutionary, but can also accommodate revolutionary elements. Development carries in itself the propensity to change suddenly into something else. How the Joanneum has performed its duties since it was founded can be gleaned from the annual reports of the institute in the period from 1811 to 1929, and from 1971 onwards. With this publication, the museum fulfils the mission of its founder, which is laid down in the statutes of 1811: ‘At the end of each and every year, a report will be lodged about everything that has hap- pened during this period, about augmentations, enlargements and improve- ments of the collections held in the museum, and about the number of visi- tors and the subjects they prefer to involve themselves with, what real steps of progress have been made, and about what contributions have been made and by whom. This report shall be printed after approval by the censorship authorities and announced to the province so that the vivid conviction of the institute’s benefit may lead to its continuous perfection.’ The value of these records lies in their descriptive method of representation, in particular in the