The University of Göttingen (German: Georg-August-Universität
Göttingen, GAU, known informally as Georgia
Augusta) is a public research university in
the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded in
1734 by George II, King of Great Britain and
Elector of Hanover, and starting classes in
1737, the university is the oldest in the
state of Lower Saxony and the largest in student
enrollment, which stands at around 31,500.
Home to many noted figures, it represents
one of Germany's historic and traditional
institutions. Göttingen has been called "the
city of science".As of August 2018, 45 Nobel
Prize winners have been affiliated with the
University of Göttingen as alumni, faculty
members or researchers.
The University of Göttingen was previously
supported by the German Universities Excellence
Initiative, holds memberships to the U15 Group
of major German research universities and
to the Coimbra Group of major European research
universities. Furthermore, the university
maintains strong connections with major research
institutes based in Göttingen, such as those
of the Max Planck Society for the Advancement
of Science and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Scientific Community. With approximately 8
million media units, the Göttingen State
and University Library ranks among the largest
libraries in Germany.
== History ==
=== Inauguration ===
In 1734, King George II of Great Britain,
who was also Elector of Hanover, gave his
Prime Minister in Hanover, Gerlach Adolph
von Münchhausen, the order to establish a
university in Göttingen to propagate the
ideas of academic freedom and enlightenment
at the times of the European Enlightenment.
Initially, the only new buildings constructed
for the opening of the university were a riding
hall and a fencing house, while courses were
taught in the Paulinerkirche and associated
Dominican monastery, or in the homes of professors.
No university auditorium was built until well
into the 19th century.
=== 18th–19th centuries ===
Throughout the remainder of the 18th century
the University of Göttingen was in the top
rank of German universities, with its free
spirit and atmosphere of scientific exploration
and research. Famously, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
was the first to hold a professorship (1769–99)
explicitly dedicated to experimental physics
in Germany. By 1812, Göttingen had become
an internationally acknowledged modern university
with a library of more than 200,000 volumes.
In the first years of the University of Göttingen,
it became known especially for its Faculty
of Law. In the 18th century Johann Stephan
Pütter, a scholar of public law at that time,
taught jus publicum for half a century. The
subject had attracted students such as Klemens
Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, later diplomat
and Prime Minister of Austria, and Wilhelm
von Humboldt, who later established the University
of Berlin. In 1809 Arthur Schopenhauer, the
German philosopher best known for his work
The World as Will and Representation, became
a student at the university, where he studied
metaphysics and psychology under Gottlob Ernst
Schulze, who advised him to concentrate on
Plato and Kant. By the university's centenary
in 1837, it was known as the "university of
law," as the students enrolled by the faculty
of law often made up more than half of the
university's students. Göttingen became a
Mecca for the study of public law in Germany.
During this time, the University of Göttingen
achieved renown for its critical work on history
as well. An Enlightenment institution, it
produced the Göttingen School of History.
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
– the so-called Die Göttinger Sieben (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 philologist brothers Jakob (1785–1863)
and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859)) – for protesting
against the revocation by Ernest Augustus,
King of Hanover, of the liberal constitution
of 1833 further reduced the prosperity of
the university.
Otto von Bismarck, the main creator and the
first Chancellor of the second German Empire,
had also studied law in Göttingen in 1833:
he lived in a tiny house on the "Wall," now
known as "Bismarck Cottage". According to
oral tradition, he lived there because his
rowdiness had caused him to be banned from
living within the city walls.
=== Turn of the 20th Century ===
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the
20th century, the University of Göttingen
achieved its academic peak. Göttingen maintained
a strong focus on natural science, especially
mathematics. By 1900, David Hilbert and Felix
Klein had attracted mathematicians from around
the world to Göttingen, which made it a leading
center of mathematics by the turn of the 20th
century. Likewise, the Faculty of Theology
in conjunction with other orientalists and
ancient historians across the university became
an international center for the study of religion
and antiquity.
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 as the director of the Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute for Fluid Mechanics. He
introduced the concept of boundary layer and
founded mathematical aerodynamics by calculating
air flow in the down wind direction. Many
of Prandtl's students went on to make fundamental
contributions to aerodynamics.
From 1921 to 1933, the physics theory group
was led by Max Born, who, during this time,
became one of the three discoverers of the
non-relativistic theory of quantum mechanics.
He may also have been the first to propose
its probabilistic relationship with classical
physics. It was one of the main centers of
the development of modern physics.
During this time, the German language became
an international academic language. A number
of dissertations in the UK and the US had
German titles. One might be considered having
had a complete academic training only when
one had studied in Germany. Thus, many American
students were proud of having studied in Germany,
and the University of Göttingen had profound
impacts on the US. A number of American politicians,
lawyers, historians and writers received their
education from both Harvard and Göttingen.
For example, Edward Everett, once Secretary
of State and President of Harvard University,
stayed in Göttingen for two years of study.
George Ticknor spent two years studying classics
in Göttingen. Even John Lothrop Motley, a
diplomat and historian, had personal friendship
with Otto von Bismarck during his two-year-long
study in Göttingen. George Bancroft, a politician
and historian, received his PhD from the University
of Göttingen in 1820.
=== "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, Edmund Landau,
Emmy Noether, and Richard Courant were expelled
or fled. Most of them fled Nazi Germany for
places like the United States, Canada, and
the United Kingdom. Following the great purge,
in 1934 David Hilbert, by then a symbol of
German mathematics, was dining with Bernhard
Rust, the Nazi minister of education. Rust
asked, “How is mathematics at Göttingen,
now that it is free from the Jewish influence?”
Hilbert replied, “There is no mathematics
in Göttingen anymore.”
=== Renovation after War ===
After World War II, the University of Göttingen
was the first university in the western Zones
to be re-opened under British control in 1945.
== Campus ==
The university is spread out in several locations
around the city.
The central university complex with the Central
Library and Mensa (student refectory/dining
hall) is located right next to the inner city
and comprises the faculties for Theology,
Social sciences, Law, Economics/Business Administration
and Linguistics. The departments of Ancient
History, Classics, various languages, Psychology
and Philosophy are nearby. Located to the
south of the city is the Faculty of Mathematics
and Computer Science with its main building,
the Mathematisches Institut, on the same street
as the German Aerospace Center and the Max
Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation.
Elsewhere in the city are the departments
of Anthropology 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, Biology, Plant Pathology,
Agronomy, Forestry, Geology, Physics, Computer
Science) are now located, including the GZMB.
Other institutes are set around the inner
city.
=== Library ===
Closely linked with the university is the
Göttingen State and University Library (German:
Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek
Göttingen, or SUB Göttingen). With around
8 million media units 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,
founded as the 'Royal Society for Sciences'.
=== Gardens ===
The university maintains three botanical gardens:
the Alter Botanischer Garten der Universität
Göttingen, the Neuer Botanischer Garten der
Universität Göttingen, and the Forstbotanischer
Garten und Pflanzengeographisches Arboretum
der Universität Göttingen.
== Organisation ==
Today the university consists of 13 faculties
and around 26,000 students are enrolled. More
than 400 professors and 4,000 academic staff
work at the university, assisted by a technical
and administrative staff of over 7,000. The
post-war expansion of the university led to
the establishment of a new, modern "university
quarter" in the north of the city. The architecture
of the old university can still be seen in
the Auditorium Maximum (1826/1865) and the
Great Hall (1835/1837) at Wilhelmsplatz.
=== Faculties, centers, and institutes ===
The University of Göttingen encompasses 13
faculties and a total of 47 additional centers
and institutes (including associated centers
and institutes but excluding institutes or
departments within the faculties themselves).
Faculties
Centers and institutes
== 
Academics ==
=== 
Reputation and rankings ===
A well-established institution, the University
of Göttingen has long been rated among the
best universities in Germany and in the world.
Within the framework of the 2006–07 German
Universities Excellence Initiative, it won
funding for its future concept "Tradition,
Innovation, Autonomy," its graduate school
"Neurosciences and Molecular Biosciences,"
and its research cluster "Microscopy at the
Nanometer Range." In the 2012 Excellence Initiative,
Göttingen succeeded in obtaining funds for
its graduate school "Neurosciences and Molecular
Biosciences" and its research cluster "Microscopy
at the Nanometer Range", but failed in its
bid for future concept financing. In September
2018, Göttingen succeeded in gaining funds
only for its research cluster "Multiscale
Bioimaging", and failed in the other applications.
Consequently, Göttingen would no longer be
eligible for the fourth round of future concept
financing across the country in 2019.
The University of Göttingen is associated
with 45 Nobel laureates. By this number alone,
the University of Göttingen ranks among global
top 15. The most recent Nobel laureates associated
with the university are Stefan Hell (Nobel
Prize in Chemistry, 2014) and Thomas C. Südhof
(Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2013).
Stefan Hell has been a lecturer (in Privatdozent
capacity) at the University of Göttingen
since 2004 and the director of the Max Planck
Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in the
Göttingen Research Campus since 2002, while
Thomas Südhof, currently a professor at Stanford
University, worked on his doctoral thesis
at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical
Chemistry in the lab of British biochemist
Victor P. Whittaker.
However, Göttingen has declined overall in
other international rankings in recent years.
For example, in the Shanghai Ranking (ARWU)
of 2018, it is ranked 99th, while in 2004
it was ranked 79th. More surprisingly, according
to the Times Higher Education World University
Rankings, Göttingen was previously ranked
43rd in 2011, but is ranked only 123rd in
2019.
=== Partner institutions ===
The university is organizationally and personally
interlinked with the following independent
and semi-independent institutions. There are
four Max Planck Society for the Promotion
of Science Institutes situated in Göttingen:
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
(Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute)
Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization,
formerly Max Planck Institute for Flow Research
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious
and Ethnic Diversity, formerly Max Planck
Institute for HistoryThere is also member
of the Leibniz Association:
German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute
for Primate ResearchAdditionally, the Max
Planck Institute for Solar System Research,
formerly Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy
is closely linked to and has cooperation with
the university.
=== Exchange programs ===
As Germany is a member of the European Union,
university students have the opportunity to
participate in the Erasmus Programme. The
university also has exchange programs and
partnerships with reputable universities outside
Europe such as University of Technology, Sydney
in Australia, Tsinghua University, Peking
University and Fudan University in China,
Tokyo University in Japan and the University
of California, Berkeley, in the United States.
== Traditions ==
The most famous tradition of the university
is that PhD students who have just passed
their Rigorosum (oral doctoral examination)
or dissertation defense 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.
== Student 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):
Latin: 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 Ratskeller 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."
The university offers eight snack shops and
six Mensas serving lunch at low prices for
the students. One Mensa also provides dinner
for students.
== Notable people ==
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. Heinrich Heine, the
famous German poet, studied law and was awarded
the degree of Dr.iur..
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.Jur. here.
Gerhard Schröder, the former Chancellor of
Germany, also graduated from the school of
law in Göttingen.
Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich, later
diplomat and Prime Minister of Austria, and
Wilhelm von Humboldt, who later established
the University of Berlin, Arthur Schopenhauer,
the German philosopher. The Brothers Grimm
had taught here and compiled the first German
Dictionary. In the 19th century, Gustav von
Hugo and Rudolf von Jhering, a jurist who
created the theory of "culpa in contraendo"
and wrote Battle for Right, taught here and
maintained the reputation of the faculty of
law, as well as Otto von Bismarck, the main
creator and the first Chancellor of the second
German Empire.
The German inventor of the jet engine, Pabst
von Ohain, also studied aerodynamics under
Ludwig Prandtl. Edmund Husserl, the philosopher
and known as the father of phenomenology,
taught here. Max Weber, the sociologist studied
here for one term. Carl Friedrich Gauss taught
here in the 19th century. Bernhard Riemann,
Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet and a number
of significant mathematicians made their contributions
to mathematics here.
== See also ==
Göttinger Digitalisierungszentrum
List of early modern universities in Europe
List of universities in Germany
List of forestry universities and colleges
== References ==
Constance Reid, Hilbert, Springer, 1996, ISBN
0-387-94674-8.
== External links ==
The University of Göttingen – home page
Shame at Göttingen, detailing the 1933 purge
