The "Austrian Decoration for Science and Art" was established by the National Council as an honour for scientific or artistic achievements by Federal Law of May 1955 (Federal Law Gazette No. 96/1955 as amended BGBl I No 128/2001). At the same time, the National Council also established the "Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art", which is awarded as "Cross of Honour, First Class" (German: Ehrenkreuz 1. Klasse) and "Cross of Honour" (German: Ehrenkreuz). While not technically counted as lower classes of the Decoration for Science and Art, these crosses are nevertheless affiliated with it.
Decoration for Science and Art
The number of living recipients of the Decoration for Science and Art is limited to a maximum of 72 at any one time (36 recipients for science and 36 for arts). In each of these two groups there are 18 Austrian citizens and 18 foreign nationals.
1996: Ronald S. Calinger, American historian of Mathematics; Fausto Cercignani, Italian scholar, essayist and poet; Quirino Principe, Italian philosopher of music and dramatist
1997: Herbert Willi, composer; Lucian O. Meysels, author; Ernest Manheim, American sociologist of Hungarian origin
2007: Herbert W. Franke, scientist, writer, artist; Hans Walter Lack, botanist; Josef Burg, writer; Reginald Vospernik, high school director; Nuria Nono-Schönberg, Lawrence Schönberg, Ronald Schönberg, the three children of Arnold Schoenberg
2009: Grita Insam, gallerist; Hans Werner Scheidl, journalist and author; Stefan Größing, sports scientist; Bruno Mamoli, specialist in neurology and psychiatry; Fredmund Malik, management scientist;[7][8] Theodore Bikel; Hans Werner Sokop, poet and translator
Forfeiture of this honour became possible with Federal Law Gazette I No 128/2001, changing Act § 8a. It allows the government to strip recipients of their honours if deemed unworthy. The best known example of such a forfeiture is of the Nazi physician Heinrich Gross.[citation needed]
On 5 August 2008 the Austrian Science Minister Johannes Hahn decided not to withdraw the award from inventor Johann Grander.[citation needed] – see also Wikipedia German version and see also Austrian ministry
Federal Law Gazette, 22 June 1955: Federal Law of 25 May 1955 on the creation of the Austrian Medal for Science and the Arts and the Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and the Arts (pdf, 647kb)
Federal Law Gazette, November 2001: Amendment to the Federal Law on the establishment of an Austrian Medal for Science and the Arts and the Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and the Arts. (pdf, 5kb)