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This society was one of the oldest research societies in German speaking areas and the first on the area of the Commonwealth. In 1670 the physician Israel Conradi (1634-1715) had tried to organize a society in Gdansk, without success. Several others tried after him until the Privatdozent Daniel Gralath (1708-1767) finally succeeded. At the end of 1742 he had gathered a group of learned men for this purpose. Gralath was from a well-to-do Gdansk trade family and he had studied in Malbork and Halle. Later he became councilman (Ratsherr) and mayor (Bürgermeister) of Gdansk. His father-in-law was Jacob Theodor Klein (1685-1759), city secretary and also a very distinguished scientist. Klein's nickname was Gedanensium Plinius.
In 1845 the society was located in a Renaissance-era building at the Motlawa, an arm of the Vistula River. In 1840 Alexander von Humboldt accompanied Prussian King Frederick William IV on the way to Königsberg, and Humboldt received an honorary membership in the Society Later the society offered Humboldt stipends. The collections of the Society were displayed in the West-Prussian Provincial Museum located at the Green Gate (Zielona Brama).
After 200 years of existence, the society ceased to exist when Germans had to leave Gdansk and its building was destroyed during the SovietThere are two main meanings to the word soviet Soviet (council) can mean a council of workers, a term that was used from the late Imperial Russia days. After the October Revolution, soviets (councils) became the main form of government at all levels: ente offensive in 1945Events January January 5 The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland. January 7 British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. January 12 World War II:. Later the building at the Motlawa river was rebuilt by Polish architects and today houses the Gdansk Archeological Museum .
A book was published by the society, by E. Schumann, titled: History of the Research Society in Gdansk 1743-1892 (Geschichte der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig 1743-1892).
Polish history