This essay explains the emergence of a new era in global science and politics through increasing scientific nationalism in the years leading up to World War I. Based upon original archival research, we examine how the cultural geopolitics of international scientific jubilees triggered a major change in the self-representation of Prussian and non-Prussian German universities from delivering individual congratulatory addresses to the demonstration of unity through one joint address and present. The analysis focuses on the first centenary of the Royal Frederick University in Kristiania and the quincentenary of the University of St Andrews, both held in 1911, before discussing how all 21 German universities agreed to convey their felicitations with one voice—as Universitates Germaniae—and one address—an inscribed bronze votive tablet—to the Royal Society in London on the occasion of its 250th anniversary as a chartered institution in 1912. We argue that in the context of growing imperial and economic rivalry between European nation-states, the politicization of these jubilees reinforced scientific nationalism and encouraged a unified appearance of German universities overseas, no less than 41 years after the constitution of the German Empire. By analysing changing material, practical, and imaginative resource ensembles in science and politics, we reveal how the geographical imagination of national unity materialized in the German universities’ use of bronze tablets for conveying academic appreciation and geopolitical messages in London, and at the Groningen tercentenary in 1914, and thereby heralded a new era characterized by a national university system, an escalation of scientific nationalism, and global wars.

这篇文章通过在第一次世界大战前的几年中不断增强的科学民族主义来解释全球科学和政治新时代的出现。基于原始档案研究，我们研究了国际科学禧年的文化地缘政治如何引发了一场重大变化。普鲁士和非普鲁士德国大学的自我代表，从发表个人祝贺演讲到通过一个联合演讲和出席展示团结。该分析侧重于克里斯蒂安尼亚皇家弗雷德里克大学的第一个百年庆典和圣安德鲁斯大学的五百年庆典，这两个庆典均于 1911 年举行，然后讨论了所有 21 所德国大学如何同意以一种声音表达他们的祝福——正如德国大学——以及 1912 年皇家学会作为特许机构成立 250 周年之际向伦敦皇家学会发表的讲话——一块刻有铭文的铜牌。我们认为，在欧洲民族国家之间日益增长的帝国和经济竞争的背景下，这些禧年的政治化强化了科学民族主义，并鼓励德国大学在海外统一出现，至少在德意志帝国成立 41 年后。通过分析科学和政治中不断变化的材料、实用和富有想象力的资源集合，我们揭示了国家统一的地理想象如何在德国大学使用青铜板在伦敦和格罗宁根三百周年纪念活动中传达学术欣赏和地缘政治信息中实现1914 年，