U.S. Embassy Vienna

🇺🇸 🇩🇪 🏅 And the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine goes to… Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel "for their discoveries concerning light-gated ion channels and optogenetics".

As Nobel Prize explains, "optogenetics is a method that makes it possible to show how nerve cells shape memories, feelings, and behaviors in the living brain." German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered a protein called channelrhodopsin, and U.S. scientist Karl Deisseroth from Stanford University transformed this protein into a light-controlled switch for nerve cells. Their work laid the foundation of a new era in neuroscience. 🔬

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ESTA or Visa? Here's what you need to know before you travel to the United States.

Swipe through our consular tips to find out which travel authorization applies to you – and remember: planning ahead is always the best approach.

✅ ESTA — if you are an Austrian citizen traveling for tourism or business for up to 90 days

🚫 Visa required — if you have traveled to Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or Cuba

🚫 Visa required — if you plan to stay longer than 90 days

🚫 Visa required — if you plan to work or study for credit in the U.S.

Fake ESTA websites can be hard to spot. Always use the official site: esta.cbp.dhs.gov

🔗 More information: https://at.usembassy.gov/visas/

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Ambassador Fisher had the pleasure of meeting cadets from West Point - The U.S. Military Academy and midshipmen from the United States Naval Academy studying at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt this semester.

Exchanges like this bring together the next generation of U.S. and Austrian military leaders, learning side by side and building the trust and partnerships that will strengthen our security cooperation for decades to come.

If you’re wondering what made them want to come to Austria, what impressions they've had so far, and most importantly, how they like Austrian bread – stay tuned! More content incoming. 👀🎬

🇺🇸🎓🇦🇹 On September 24, Ambassador Fisher hosted the annual Fulbright Reception, welcoming returning Austrian grantees and newly arrived U.S. Fulbright participants to Vienna.

🎉 This year, we celebrated 75 years of Fulbright Austria: seventy-five years of connecting Americans and Austrians across classrooms, research labs, and communities. This legacy continues with every Fulbrighter in that room.

🤝 To the returning Austrian grantees: your invaluable experience in the United States is an asset, for both our countries. To the newly arrived U.S. participants: willkommen in Österreich! You are now part of something that has been building for three quarters of a century.

🙏 Thank you to the Fulbright Austria board, staff, alumni, and partner organizations for your continued commitment to this partnership. We look forward to the next 75 years.

📷© Adrian Almasan | www.adrianalmasan.com

🇺🇸🎬🥤🥖🇦🇹 Celebrating Austrian-American Day

Austria’s contributions to the United States go far beyond science. This Austrian-American Day, we’re also highlighting four of the country’s most famous, iconic, and talked-about cultural exports.

Austria has left a big mark on American culture — from Hollywood, haute cuisine, and energy drinks to, most recently, delicious rye bread. 😉

We’ll let the images speak for themselves. Just swipe and enjoy! 👉

Arnold Schwarzenegger: © 2026 Bernhard Holub

Wolfgang Puck: © 2012 Glenn Francis

Red Bull: © Red Bull

Rye Bread: © 2026 Martin Auer

🇺🇸🔬🇦🇹 Celebrating Austrian-American Day

On this day, we celebrate the ties that connect our two nations: in culture, in commerce, and in discovery.

This year, we’re honoring three Austrian-born scientists and innovators who made America their home and left their mark on the world. Their stories belong to both of our countries.

Meet them here!

Hedy Lamarr was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914, in Vienna, Austria, and died on January 19, 2000, in Casselberry, Florida. She began her acting career in Austrian and German films in the early 1930s before fleeing Europe in 1937 amid the rise of Na**sm, after which she became a Hollywood star under contract with MGM Studios. Although she held no formal academic post, she co-developed frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology with composer George Antheil, patenting the invention in 1942 as largely self-taught engineering. She was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014, and her work underlies modern Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS technology.

Graphic: ©1944 Employee(s) of MGM

Walter Kohn was born on March 9, 1923, in Vienna, Austria, and died on April 19, 2016, in Santa Barbara, California. After the 1938 Anschluss, he escaped via the Kindertransport to England, though his parents perished in the Holocaust; he later spent time in Canada before pursuing graduate study in the United States. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University and went on to hold professorships at Carnegie Mellon University, UC San Diego, and later UC Santa Barbara. He developed density functional theory, a breakthrough that transformed computational chemistry and materials science, and he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998 for this work.

Graphic: ©2012 Markus Pössel

Eric Kandel was born on November 7, 1929, in Vienna, Austria, and died on April 20, 2024, in New York. He experienced Kristallnacht firsthand in 1938, when N**i mobs vandalized his father’s shop, and he fled with his family to the United States in 1939, settling in Brooklyn, New York. He studied at Harvard University and NYU Medical School before spending his career as a professor at Columbia University. Using the sea s

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Strengthening U.S.-Austrian Cyber Resilience

Luke McNamara, Deputy Chief Analyst at Mandiant Intelligence, part of Google Cloud, was in Austria last week to discuss emerging cyber threats and the latest developments in cybersecurity.

🔸 In Linz, he took part in the IKT Security Conference, organized by the Austrian Ministry of Defense. In his keynote address, he highlighted national cyber resilience, critical infrastructure protection, and U.S.-Austrian defense cooperation.

🔸 In Salzburg, McNamara met with members of the local business community and the Austrian-American Society Salzburg to exchange views on cybersecurity challenges and cooperation.

🔸 Back in Vienna, participated in an AmCham Austria business breakfast, spoke to a journalist, and met with Austrian officials - rounding out a week of discussions on strengthening cybersecurity and transatlantic cooperation.

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Last week, Ambassador Fisher hosted a reception for Austria-based alumni of leading U.S. universities. The event brought together influential voices from government, business, academia, and civil society, all connected by their ties to the United States.

Thank you to everyone who joined us! These lasting people-to-people connections are at the heart of the U.S.-Austria partnership.

🇺🇸🏍️🏁🇦🇹 What a day at the Red Bull Ring!

Ambassador Fisher joined more than 90,000 motorsports fans in Spielberg for the Austrian MotoGP Grand Prix and the season finale of the inaugural FIM Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup — and even had the honor of waving the checkered flag.

Few U.S. brands are more unmistakably American than Harley-Davidson, and seeing this iconic American name take center stage at one of the world’s premier motorsports venues, right here in Austria, made for a very special experience.

Thank you to the teams at Harley-Davidson, MotoGP, and the Red Bull Ring for an unforgettable event. This is in action: showcasing American excellence on the global stage, right here in the heart of Austria.