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History

2013
Based on a cooperation with the Max Planck-Institute, the Virtual Laboratory if further developed by the program in Media Studies at the University of Regensburg.

2011
The research project The Experimentalization of Life comes to an end.

2005
From March 20th to October 3rd, the Virtual Laboratory was shown at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe. It had been part of the show Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy', curated by Bruno Latour and Peter Weibel.

2002
The Virtual Laboratory went online.

2001
Taking into account conceptional development, the former "Virtual Laboratory of Physiology" is renamed "Virtual Laboratory. Essays and Resources on the Experimentalization of Life, 1830-1930".

2000
"The Virtual Laboratory for Physiology: Experimental Systems in 19th Century Life Sciences" is presented at the Symposium on "Virtual Research? The impact of new technologies on scientific practices" (organized by Helga Nowotny) at the Eidgenössische Hochschule in Zurich in June. The practices of experimentalization become the focus holding together configurations between life sciences, technology, art and literature in the 19th Century. The VL becomes part of the project "The Experimentalization of Life", funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung (2000-2005).

1999
A CD-ROM of the VL is produced. It contains the basic twofold structure which has been preserved until now. In addition to the archive it includes an electronic platform were historians can present and discuss studies connected to the research field of the VL. The "Virtual Lab" is presented at the Conference of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation on "Using the World Wide Web for Historical Research in Science and Technology" (organized by Timothy Lenoir) at Stanford University in August.

1998
After repeated remodelling the holdings of the VL get reorganized into the following sections: EXPERIMENTS, TECHNOLOGY, OBJECTS, SITES, EXPOSITION, PEOPLE, LIBRARY, CONCEPTS. The range of the research field is broadened from focusing exclusively on physiology to experimental practises in all life sciences, art and literature.

1997
The first version of the Virtual Laboratory (VL) was conceived under the title of "Virtual Institute of Physiology" Project (VIPP). It was centered around the idea of illustrating how the technical conditions of physiological research evolved throughout the nineteenth century. Besides laying out an electronic database of texts and images concerning 19th century physiology, advanced technologies such as the animation of images were already being explored.