The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by

Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse (13 November 1504 – 31 March 1567), nicknamed (in English: "the Magnanimous"), was a German nobleman and champion of the Protestant Reformation, notable for being one of the most important of the early Protestan ...

, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

university in the world. It is now a public university of the state of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

, without religious affiliation. The University of Marburg has about 23,500 students and 7,500 employees and is located in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...

, a town of 76,000 inhabitants, with university buildings dotted in or around the town centre. About 14 per cent of the students are international, the highest percentage in Hesse. It offers an International summer university programme and offers student exchanges through the Erasmus programme.

History

In 1609, the University of Marburg established the world's first professorship in chemistry. In 2012 it opened the first German interactive chemistry museum, called '. Its experimental course programme is aimed at encouraging young people to pursue careers in science. The university was among the first in Germany to offer courses in gender studies.

Nazi period

20 professors were expelled in 1933, among them economist who emigrated and linguist who committed suicide.

After 1945

Since the 1970s especially the Department of Social Sciences is regarded as a leftist stronghold, with being a major influence within the field of political science in post-war Germany.

Academics

Research

The university is significant for its life sciences research, but is also home to one of the few centers that conduct research on the middle east, the CNMS (center for near and middle eastern studies). The departments of psychology and geography reached Excellence Group status in the Europe-wide CHE Excellence Ranking 2009. Its research is illustrated by its participation in several SFBs ('). These collaborative research centres are financed by the German Science Foundation '. They encourage researchers to cross the boundaries of disciplines, institutes, departments and faculties within the participating university. The current SFB at Philipps-University Marburg are: * SFB/TR17 – Ras-dependent Pathways in Human Cancer (started 2004; with ) * SFB/TR22 – Allergic response of the lung (started 2005, with Research Center Borstel and LMU Munich) * SFB/TR81 – Chromatin Changes in Differentiation and Malignancies (started 2010, with ) * SFB-TRR 84 – Innate Immunity of the Lung (started 2010, with , , , , , ) * SFB-TRR 135 – Cardinal mechanisms of perception (started 2014, with ) * SFB 593 – Mechanisms of cellular compartmentalisation and the relevance for disease (started 2003) * SFB 987 – Microbial Diversity in Environmental Signal Response (started 2012, with Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg) * SFB 1083 – Structure and Dynamics of Internal Interfaces (started 2013, with

Donostia International Physics Center The Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC) Foundation was established in 1999 in the framework of a collaboration agreement reached by the Education and Industry Departments of the Basque Government, the University of the Basque Country, t ...

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the ...

, Spain) * SFB 1021 –

RNA virus An RNA virus is a virusother than a retrovirusthat has ribonucleic acid (RNA) as its genetic material. The nucleic acid is usually single-stranded RNA ( ssRNA) but it may be double-stranded (dsRNA). Notable human diseases caused by RNA viruses ...

es: RNA metabolism, host response and pathogenesis (started 2013, with )

Collections of the university

* , the university's old

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

* , the university's current botanical garden * (Collection of photographs taken from medieval charters) * (German national picture archive of arts) * (Collection of religious objects) * (Linguistic Atlas of Germany) * (Museum of Mineralogy) * (Museum of Arts) * (Museum of Anatomy and Medical History)

Rankings

For 2020–21 the university was ranked as 28th nationally and 369th worldwide.

Gallery

Marburg FB Wirtschaftswissenschaften.jpg, Department for Economic Studies Marburg Psychologisches Institut von SW.jpg, Department of Psychology Uni Marburg Lahnberge 04.jpg, The ' is dedicated to the natural sciences. The image shows the ''Multiple Purpose Building'', home of the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as laboratories for research into material sciences and physical chemistry Uni Marburg FB Biologie 01.jpg, The building of the nearby Biology Department is of the same architectural style Klinikum Marburg 02.jpg, The University Hospital along with the Department for Medical Studies is also located at the Lahnberge Campus Alte Universität (Marburg) 2.jpg, The ''Old University'', housing the university church, the department for religious studies and a representative lecture hall Uni Marburg Studierendensekretariat (1).jpg, The administrative headquarters of the university Uni Marburg 20.jpg, The Central Lecture Hall Building, which has been built to cater for the increased number of students Marburg UB Neubau Eingang Alter Botanischer Garten von OSO.jpg, University library Marburg Uni Geisteswissenschaftliche Instiute von SSW.jpg, University of Marburg - Department of Social Sciences and former University library Mensa 01.jpg, One of the two large university cafeterias and canteens is located on the bank of the Lahn river

Notable alumni and faculty

Natural scientists

* Ludwig Aschoff * Emil von Behring * Karl Ferdinand Braun * Klaus Bringmann * Robert Bunsen * Adolf Butenandt * Georg Ludwig Carius * Franz Ludwig Fick * Hans Fischer * Edward Frankland * Frederick Augustus Genth * Johann Peter Griess *

Karl Eugen Guthe Karl Eugen Guthe (5 March 1866 – 10 September 1915) was a Germany, German-born American academic and physicist, notable for being the first Dean of the Graduate Department at the University of Michigan. Education Guthe was born in Hanover, Ger ...

* Otto Hahn * Johannes Hartmann * Thomas Archer Hirst * Erich Hückel *

Kathrin Jansen Kathrin U. Jansen (born 1958) is the former Head of Vaccine Research and Development at Pfizer. She previously led the development of the HPV vaccine (Gardasil) and newer versions of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Prevnar), and is working wit ...

Hermann Knoblauch Karl Hermann Knoblauch (; 11 April 1820 – 30 June 1895) was a German physicist. He is most notable for his studies of radiant heat. He was one of the six founding members of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft at Berlin on 14 January 1845. ...

* Hermann Kolbe * Albrecht Kossel *

Ulrich Lemmer Ulrich Lemmer (born May 1964) is a German electrical engineer and professor specializing in optoelectronics. Education Ulrich Lemmer received a diploma degree in physics from RWTH Aachen University in 1990 and a Ph.D. from the University of M ...

* Otto Loewi * Carl Ludwig * Hans Meerwein * Ludwig Mond * Denis Papin * Heinrich Petraeus (1589–1620) *

Otto Schindewolf Otto Heinrich Schindewolf (7 June 1896 – 10 June 1971) was a German paleontologist who studied the evolution of corals and cephalopods. Biography Schindewolf was on the faculty at the University of Marburg from 1919 until 1927. Then he b ...

Thorsten M. Schlaeger Thorsten M. Schlaeger, Ph.D., is the head of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Facility of the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children's Hospital. He studied Human Biology ( Humanbiologie) at the University of Marburg and performed his Ph.D. thesis w ...

Sunao Tawara was a Japanese pathologist known for the discovery of the atrioventricular node. Tawara was born in Ōita Prefecture and studied at the Medical School, Imperial University of Tokyo in Tokyo, graduating in 1901 and receiving his Medical Doctor, ...

John Tyndall John Tyndall FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the p ...

Wilhelm Walcher Wilhelm Walcher (7 July 1910 in Kaufbeuren – 9 November 2005 in Marburg) was a German experimental physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he worked on mass spectrometers ...

* Alfred Wegener * Georg Wittig * Alexandre Yersin * Karl Ziegler * Theodor Zincke * Adolf Fick

Theologians

Marburg was always known as a

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at th ...

-focused university. It retained that strength, especially in Philosophy and Theology for a long time after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. * Rudolf Bultmann *

Karl Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Calvinist theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Declara ...

* *

Friedrich Heiler Friedrich Heiler (January 30, 1892 – April 18, 1967) was a German theologian and historian of religion. Heiler came from a Roman Catholic family. 1918 he became ''Privatdozent'' in University of Munich, from where he 1920 moved to theological fac ...

* Wilhelm Herrmann * Aegidius Hunnius *

Andreas Hyperius Andreas Gerhard Hyperius (1511–1564), real name Andreas Gheeraerdts, was a Protestant theologian and Protestant reformer. He was Flemish, born at Ypres, which is signified by the name 'Hyperius'. Life He had a humanist education, and studied at ...

* Otto Kaiser * Helmut Koester * Jacob Lorhard * Rudolf Otto * Johann Jakob Pfeiffer * Kurt Rudolph * Annemarie Schimmel *

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologi ...

August Friedrich Christian Vilmar August Friedrich Christian Vilmar, German Neo-Lutheran theologian; born at Solz (near Rotenburg, 78 m. NE of Frankfurt) November 21, 1800; died at Marburg July 30, 1868. Early career In 1818-20 he studied theology at Marburg, only to learn do ...

* Gottlieb Olpp - on medical missionary

Philosophers

* Wolfgang Abendroth *

Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt (, , ; 14 October 1906 – 4 December 1975) was a political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor. She is widely considered to be one of the most influential political theorists of the 20th century. Arendt was born ...

* Karl Theodor Bayrhoffer * Ernst Cassirer * Hermann Cohen * Hans-Georg Gadamer * Nicolai Hartmann *

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

Hans Heinz Holz Hans Heinz Holz (26 February 1927 – 11 December 2011) was a German Marxist philosopher. Born in Frankfurt am Main, he was professor of philosophy at the University of Marburg (from 1971 to 1979) and from 1979 to 1993 at the University o ...

Hans Jonas Hans Jonas (; ; 10 May 1903 – 5 February 1993) was a German-born American Jewish philosopher, from 1955 to 1976 the Alvin Johnson Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Biography Jonas was born ...

* Friedrich Albert Lange *

Karl Löwith Karl Löwith (9 January 1897 – 26 May 1973) was a German philosopher in the phenomenological tradition. A student of Husserl and Heidegger, he was one of the most prolific German philosophers of the twentieth century. He is known for his t ...

Paul Natorp Paul Gerhard Natorp (24 January 1854 – 17 August 1924) was a German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Biography Paul Natorp w ...

* José Ortega y Gasset * Isaac Rülf *

Leo Strauss Leo Strauss (, ; September 20, 1899 – October 18, 1973) was a German-American political philosopher who specialized in classical political philosophy. Born in Germany to Jewish parents, Strauss later emigrated from Germany to the United States. ...

* Christian Wolff * Eduard Zeller *

Sarveswara Sharma Peri Sarveswara may refer to: * Bhavaraju Sarveswara Rao an economist and a social scientist. * Ramayanam Sarveswara Sastry an eminent Indian actor. * Sarveswara Satakam Sarveswara Satakam (Telugu language, Telugu: సర్వేశ్వర శ ...

Other

* Hermann Behrends (1907–1948), German Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes * Gottfried Benn * Gerold Bepler * Jessie Forbes Cameron (1883–1968) * Georg Friedrich Creuzer *

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

(who had to quit a summer school in August 1914, at the start of World War I) *

Johannes Goddaeus Johann Gödde, latinized as Johannes Goddaeus (7 December 1555 – 5 January 1632), was a German jurist. Life Youth Gödde was born in Schwerte, North Rhine-Westphalia, into a wealthy merchant's family. His father Heinrich Gödde was se ...

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of th ...

Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author and anthropologist, and the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1786 in Hanau, i ...

Caspar Friedrich Hachenberg Caspar Friedrich Hachenberg (14 December 1709 (baptised) – 1 April 1793), was rector of the Latin school of Wageningen, The Netherlands (1740–1789) and writer of Greek and Latin grammars. Hachenberg was born in 1709 at Neuwied, the son of the ...

* Gustav Heinemann *

Stefan Hofmann Stefan G. Hofmann (born 1964) is a German-born clinical psychologist. He is the Alexander von Humboldt Professor and recipient of the LOEWE Spitzenprofessur for Translational Clinical Psychology at the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany ...

* Beatrice Heuser *

Kim Hwang-sik Kim Hwang-sik (; born 9 August 1948) is a South Korean lawyer and politician who was the country's Prime Minister from October 2010 to February 2013 under President Lee Myung-bak. He was the former Chairperson of the Board of Audit and Inspect ...

Wilhelm Liebknecht Wilhelm Martin Philipp Christian Ludwig Liebknecht (; 29 March 1826 – 7 August 1900) was a German socialist and one of the principal founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).Mikhail Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; russian: Михаил (Михайло) Васильевич Ломоносов, p=mʲɪxɐˈil vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ , a=Ru-Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov.ogg; – ) was a Russian polymath, scientist and wri ...

* Carlyle Ferren MacIntyre *

Ulrike Meinhof Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author ...

Friedrich Paulus Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus (23 September 1890 – 1 February 1957) was a German field marshal during World War II who is best known for commanding the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). The battle ended ...

Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (; rus, Бори́с Леони́дович Пастерна́к, p=bɐˈrʲis lʲɪɐˈnʲidəvʲɪtɕ pəstɛrˈnak; 30 May 1960) was a Russian poet, novelist, composer and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pa ...

Ernst Reuter Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter (29 July 1889 – 29 September 1953) was the mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War. Biography Early years Reuter was born in Apenrade (Aabenraa), Province of Schleswig-Holste ...

Ferdinand Sauerbruch Ernst Ferdinand Sauerbruch (; 3 July 1875 – 2 July 1951) was a German surgeon. His major work was on the use of negative-pressure chambers for surgery. Biography Sauerbruch was born in Barmen (now a district of Wuppertal), Germany. He s ...

Friedrich Carl von Savigny Friedrich Carl von Savigny (21 February 1779 – 25 October 1861) was a German jurist and historian. Early life and education Savigny was born at Frankfurt am Main, of a family recorded in the history of Lorraine, deriving its name from the ca ...

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. H ...

Moritz Schuppert Moritz Schuppert (1817 – May 2, 1887) was an American surgeon, anti-vaccinationist and early advocate of antisepsis. Biography Schuppert was born in Marburg, Germany.Kelly, Howard Atwood. (1912)''A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography, Vol ...

* Manfred Siebald *

Wilhelm Röpke Wilhelm Röpke (October 10, 1899 – February 12, 1966) was a German economist and social critic, best known as one of the spiritual fathers of the social market economy. A Professor of Economics, first in Jena, then in Graz, Marburg, Istan ...

Costas Simitis Konstantinos G. Simitis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Γ. Σημίτης; born 23 June 1936), usually referred to as Costas Simitis or Kostas Simitis (Κώστας Σημίτης), is a Greek politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece ...

* Jack Thiessen * Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov *

Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann (26 June 1918 – 12 June 1993) was a German folklorist, anthropologist and ethnologist. She was an academic teacher, from 1946 at the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin in East Berlin and from 1961 at the University o ...

Richard Wiese (linguist) Richard Wiese () is a German linguist, with academic degrees from the universities of Bielefeld and Düsseldorf. Since 1996, he is a professor of German Linguistics at Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, now retired. He has also worked at t ...

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marburg, University Of 1527 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Biosafety level 4 laboratories Educational institutions established in the 1520s Universities and colleges in Hesse