The
University of Göttingen ( ), known informally as
Georgia Augusta, is a university in the city of Göttingen
, Germany
.
It was
founded in 1734 by George
II, King of Great
Britain
and Elector of Hanover
, and was
then opened in 1737. The University of Göttingen soon grew
in size and popularity.
Göttingen is a historic university city, with a high student
population.
The University of Göttingen is one of the highest-ranked
universities in Germany.
History
Inauguration
.png/180px-Goettingen_-_Ansicht_von_Suedosten_(1735).png)
Göttingen in 1735
King George II, founder and president
of the university
In 1734,
George II, King of
Great
Britain and of Hanover, gave his
prime minister Gerlach Adolph von
Münchhausen, the order to establish a university in Göttingen
to carry forward the idea of academic freedom at the times of
European Enlightenment.
18th – 19th centuries
Throughout the 18
th century the University of Göttingen
was at in the top rank of German universities for its free spirit
and atmosphere of scientific exploration and research. By 1812,
Göttingen had become an internationally acknowledged modern
university with its library of more than 250,000 volumes.
Napoleon had studied law here and remarked that
"Göttingen belongs to the whole Europe".
In the first years of the University of Göttingen it became known
for its faculty of law.
In the 18th century Johann Stephan Pütter, the most
prestigious scholar of public law at that time, taught jus publicum here for half a century, which had
attracted students such as Klemens Wenzel Lothar von
Metternich, later diplomat and Prime Minister of Austria
, and
Wilhelm von Humboldt, who later
set up the University of
Berlin
. In this period
Arthur Schopenhauer, the German
philosopher best known for his work
The World as Will and
Representation, became a student at the University of
Göttingen in 1809, where he studied
metaphysics and
psychology under
Gottlob Ernst Schulze, who advised him
to concentrate on
Plato and
Kant.
King George II in the Pauliner Church in 1748
By 1837, when the university was a hundred years old, the
University of Göttingen was known as the "university of law"
because the students enrolled by the faculty of law often made up
more than half of all students on campus.
Göttingen became a
mecca
for the study of public law in Germany.
Heinrich Heine, the famous German
poet, studied law and was awarded
Dr.iur..
However, political disturbances, in which both professors and
students were implicated, lowered the attendance to 860 in 1834.
The expulsion in 1837 of the seven professors -
Die Göttinger Sieben - viz, the
Germanist,
Wilhelm Eduard
Albrecht (1800-1876); the historian,
Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann
(1785-1860); the orientalist,
Georg Heinrich August Ewald
(1803-1875); the historian,
Georg Gottfried Gervinus
(1805—1875); the physicist,
Wilhelm
Eduard Weber (1804-1891); and the philologists, the brothers
Jakob Grimm (1785-1863), and
Wilhelm Grimm (1786-1859), for protesting
against the revocation by King
Ernest Augustus I of Hanover of
the liberal constitution of 1833, further reduced the prosperity of
the university. Prior to this, the
Brothers Grimm had taught here and compiled
the first German Dictionary.
The old Building of the University and
its library in 1815
Thereafter,
Gustav von Hugo,
forerunner of
the
historical school of law, and
Rudolf von Jhering, a jurist who created
the theory of "
culpa in
contraendo" and wrote
Battle for Right, taught here in
the 19
th century and maintained the reputation of the
faculty of law.
Otto von
Bismarck, the main creator and first chancellor of the second
German
Empire
, had also studied law in Göttingen in 1833 and
lived in a tiny house on the "Wall" (according to oral tradition,
he lived there because his rowdiness had caused him to be banned
from living within the city walls), now known as "Bismarck
Cottage".
Göttingen also had a focus on natural science, especially
mathematics.
Carl Friedrich
Gauß taught in the 19
th century here in Göttingen.
Bernhard Riemann,
Johann Peter Gustav
Lejeune Dirichlet and a number of significant mathematicians
made their contribution to mathematics here.
By the end of the
19th century David Hilbert
and Felix Klein had attracted
mathematicians from around the world to Göttingen, which made
Göttingen a world mecca of
mathematics at the beginning of the 20th
century.
End of the 19th century – beginning of the
20th century
During this period, the University of Göttingen achieved its
academic peak.
The old Auditorium Maximum (built in
1826-1865)
In 1903, its teaching staff numbered 121 and its students 1529.
Ludwig Prandtl joined the university
in 1904, and developed it into a leader in
fluid mechanics and in
aerodynamics over the next two decades. In
1925, Prandtl was appointed director of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fluid
Mechanics. Many of Prandtl's students went on to make fundamental
contributions to aerodynamics.
To date, 45
Nobel Prize laureates have
studied, taught or made contributions here. Most of these prizes
were given in the first half of the 20
th century, which
was called the "
Göttingen Nobel prize
wonder".
Social studies and study of humanities continued to flourish.
Edmund Husserl, the philosopher and
known as the father of
phenomenology, taught here.
Max Weber, the sociologist studied here
for one term.
The "great purge" of 1933
In the 1930s, the university became a focal point for the
Nazi crackdown on "Jewish physics", as represented by
the work of
Albert Einstein . In
what was later called the
"great
purge" of 1933, academics including
Max
Born,
Victor Goldschmidt,
James Franck,
Eugene Wigner,
Leó Szilárd,
Edward Teller,
Emmy
Noether, and
Richard Courant
were expelled or fled. The legacy of greatness in mathematics, a
lineage which had included
Carl
Friedrich Gauss and
Bernhard
Riemann, was broken.
The Monument of King William IV who
bequeathed Aula to the university in 1837
The interior of the university Aula
Though
David Hilbert remained, by the
time he died in 1943, the Nazis had essentially gutted the
university, as many of the top faculty were either Jewish or had
married Jews. About a year after the purge, he attended a banquet,
and was seated next to the new Minister of Education,
Bernhard Rust. Rust asked, "How is mathematics
in Göttingen now that it has been freed of the Jewish influence?"
Hilbert replied, "Mathematics in Göttingen? There is really none
any more" (Reid, 205). Today, Göttingen has a respectable, but no
longer world-famous, mathematics department.
Renovation after War
After
World War II, the University of
Göttingen was the first university in the
western Zones to be
opened under British control in 1945.
Jürgen Habermas, a German philosopher
and sociologist, pursued his study here in Göttingen. Later,
Richard von Weizsäcker,
the former
president of
Germany, earned his
Dr.iur. here.
Gerhard Schröder, the former
Chancellor of
Germany, also graduated from the faculty of law here in
Göttingen and became a lawyer thereafter.
Current Status
Today the university consists of 13 faculties and about 24,000
students are enrolled. More than 2,500 professors and other
academics work at the University, assisted by a technical and
administrative staff of over 10,000. The post-war expansion of the
University led to the establishment of a new, modern 'university
quarter' in the north of the town. The architecture of the old
university can still be seen in the Auditorium Maximum (1826/1865)
and the Great Hall (1835/1837) on the Wilhelmsplatz.
Faculties
Image:Seal_of_theology.jpg|Logo of the
Faculty of
Theology,
Faculty
WebsiteImage:Seal_of_law.jpg|Logo of the
Faculty of
Law,
Faculty WebsiteImage:Seal of philosophy.png|Logo of
the
Faculty of Philosophy (including
History,
Philology, etc.),
Faculty Website:
[27066]Image:Logo_of_Medicine.gif|Logo of the
Faculty of Medicine,
Faculty WebsiteImage:Mathematik
Göttingen.jpg|
Faculty of Mathematics (including
Computer Science),
Faculty
WebsiteImage:Goe UniNordbereich Physik.jpg|
Faculty of
Physics with new observatory, Faculty Website:
[27067]Image:Goe_Chemie_2007.jpg|
Faculty of
Chemistry, Faculty Website:
[27068]Image:Goe.Uni.Nordbereich.Faculty.Buildings.May.2005.image04.JPG|
Faculty
of Biology(including
Psychology), , Faculty Website:
[27069]Image:Goe.Uni.Nordbereich.Geology.Faculty.May.2005.image08.JPG|
Faculty
of Geo-science, Faculty
Website:
[27070]Image:Seal of agriculture.png|Logo of
the
Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty
Website:
[27071]Image:Logo of forest.png|Logo of the
Faculty of Forestry,
Faculty
WebsiteImage:Goe-Uni-Campus-Platz der Gö
Sieben.01.JPG|
Faculty of Social Science, Faculty
Website:
[27072]Image:Goe-Uni-Campus-Platz der Gö
Sieben.01.JPG|
Faculty of Economics, Faculty
Website:
[27073]
Associated Institutions
The university is organizationally and personally interlinked with
the following independent and semi-independent institutions. There
are four Max Planck Institutes situated in Göttingen:
Besides,
the *Max Planck Institute for Solar System
Research
, formerly Max Planck
Institute for Aeronomy
is closely linked and has cooperation with the
university.
Library
Closely
linked with the university is the Göttingen State and University
Library
(German: Niedersächsische Staats- und
Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, or SUB Göttingen; English short
form: Goettingen SUB). With its more than 4 million volumes
and precious manuscripts,the library is designed for Göttingen
University as well as the central library for the German State of
Lower Saxony (with its central catalogue) and for the Göttingen
Academy of Sciences, originally founded as the 'Royal Society for
Sciences'.
New library building and
"Raumskulptur" sculpture
Research
Four research institutes of the
Max Planck
Society for the Promotion of Science are located in Göttingen,
which are associated and have maintained cooperation with the
University of Göttingen.
They are Max Planck Institute for the Study of
Religious and Ethnic Diversity
, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and
Self-Organization
, Max Planck
Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, and Max Planck Institute for Experimental
Medicine
.
Traditional Observatory of the
University
Reputation
45
Nobel Prize laureates have studied or
taught in Göttingen, in addition to key figures in
microbiology.
Gardens
People
Apart from the academics already mentioned, notable people that
have studied and taught at Georg-August University include the
American banker
J. P. Morgan, the
seismologist
Beno Gutenberg, the
endocrinologist
Hakaru Hashimoto,
who studied there before
World War I,
and several notable
Nobel laureates
like
Max Planck and
Werner Heisenberg.
Image:Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg|
Carl
Friedrich Gauss, mathematicianImage:Georg Friedrich Bernhard
Riemann.jpeg|
Bernhard Riemann,
mathematicianImage:Hilbert.jpg|
David
Hilbert, mathematicianImage:Felix Klein.jpeg|
Felix Klein,
mathematicianImage:Peter_Gustav_Lejeune_Dirichlet.jpg|
Peter Gustav Lejeune
Dirichlet, mathematicianImage:Max Born.jpg|
Max Born,
physicistImage:JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.jpg|
J. Robert Oppenheimer,
physicistImage:Max_planck.jpg|
Max Planck,
physicistImage:Walther Nernst.jpg|
Walther
Nernst, chemist
Image:Heinrich-heine_1.jpg|
Heinrich
Heine, poetImage:Grimm-Hanau.JPG|
Brothers Grimm,
writersImage:Schopenhauer.jpg|
Arthur
Schopenhauer, philosopher
Image:RudolfvonIhering2.jpg|
Rudolf
von Jhering, jurist
Image:Otto von Bismarck 1873.jpg|Otto von Bismarck, "Iron Chancellor" of the second German EmpireImage:Richard_von_Weizsäcker.jpg|
Richard von Weizsäcker, former
President of
GermanyImage:Gerhardschroeder01c.jpg|
Gerhard Schröder, former
Chancellor of
GermanyImage:Max_Weber_1894.jpg|
Max
Weber, sociologistImage:JuergenHabermas.jpg|
Jürgen Habermas,
sociologistImage:JohnvonNeumann-LosAlamos.gif|
John von Neumann, mathematician
Tradition
The most famous tradition of the university is that every PhD
student who has just passed her/his
rigorosum (oral
doctoral test) shall sit in a wagon - decorated with flowers and
balloons and accompanied by relatives and friends, drive around the
inner city and arrive at the Marktplatz - the central square where
the old town hall and the Gänseliesel statue are located. The
"newly born doctor" shall climb up to the statue of Gänseliesel (a
poor princess in an old fairy tale who was compelled to keep geese
by a wicked woman and later regained her identity), kiss the
Gänseliesel and give bouquets to her.
Campus life
There is an old saying about life in Göttingen, still inscribed in
Latin nowadays on the wall of the entrance to the Ratskeller (the
restaurant located in the basement of the old town hall): Extra
Gottingam non est vita, si est vita, non est ita (There is no life
outside Göttingen. Even if it is life, it is no life like
here).
"Ancient university towns are wonderfully alike. Göttingen is like
Cambridge in England or Yale in America: very provincial, not on
the way to anywhere - no one comes to these backwaters except for
the company of professors. And the professors are sure that this is
the centre of the world. There is an inscription in the
Rathskeller there which reads 'Extra Gottingam
non est vita', 'Outside Göttingen there is no life'. This epigram,
or should I call it epitaph, is not taken as seriously by the
undergraduates as by the professors."(Bronowski, 1973, The Ascent
of Man, p. 360)
Gänseliesel fountain and pedestrian
zone
The university is spread out in several locations around the
city:The central university complex with the main library and
Mensa (dining hall) is located right next to the inner
city and comprises the faculties for Theology, Law,
Economics/Business Administration and Linguistics. The departments
of Ancient History, Classics, various languages, and Psychology are
nearby. Elsewhere in the city are the departments of Anthropology,
Mathematics and Educational Sciences as well as the Medical Faculty
with its associated hospitals.
Just north of the city a new scientific center has been built in
which most of the natural sciences (Chemistry, Microbiology, Plant
Pathology, Agronomy, Forestry, Geology, Physics, Computer Science
and, starting in the year 2010, Mathematics) are now located,
including the GZMB. Other institutes are set around the inner
city.
The University offers eight snack shops and six
Mensas
serving lunch at low prices for the students. One
Mensa
also provides dinner for students.
See also
Notes and References
External links
.png/180px-Goettingen_-_Innenansicht_Paulinerkirche_(1748).png)
, the Neuer Botanischer Garten der Universität
Göttingen
, and the Forstbotanischer Garten und
Pflanzengeographisches Arboretum der Universität
Göttingen
.
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