The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
located in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label= Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the ...
,
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it ha ...
,
France, with over 52,000 students
and 3,300 researchers.
The French university traces its history to the earlier German-language ''Universität Straßburg'', which was founded in 1538, and was divided in the 1970s into three separate institutions:
Louis Pasteur University,
Marc Bloch University, and
Robert Schuman University
The ''Université Robert Schuman'', also known as Strasbourg III or URS, was a university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. In 2007, there were nearly 10,000 students enrolled at the university, including more than 1,500 foreign students. The univers ...
. On 1 January 2009, the fusion of these three universities reconstituted a united University of Strasbourg. With as many as 19 Nobel laureates, and two Fields Medal winners, the university is ranked among the best in the
League of European Research Universities
The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is a consortium of European research universities.
History and overview
The League of European Research Universities (LERU) is an association of research-intensive universities. Founded in 200 ...
.
History
The university emerged from a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
German Gymnasium, founded in 1538 by
Johannes Sturm
Johannes Sturm (also known as Jean Sturm; Latinized as Ioannes Sturmius; 1 October 1507 – 3 March 1589), was a German educator and Protestant reformer, who was influential in the design of the gymnasium system of secondary education.
Biogr ...
in the
Free Imperial City
In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
of Strassburg. It was transformed to a university in 1621 (german: Universität Straßburg) and elevated to the ranks of a royal university in 1631. Among its earliest university students was Johann Scheffler who studied medicine and later converted to Catholicism and became the mystic and poet
Angelus Silesius
Angelus Silesius (9 July 1677), born Johann Scheffler and also known as Johann Angelus Silesius, was a German Catholic priest and physician, known as a mystic and religious poet. Born and raised a Lutheran, he adopted the name ''Angelus'' ( La ...
.
The Lutheran German university still persisted even after the annexation of the city by
King Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ver ...
in 1681 (one famous student was
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tre ...
in 1770/71), but mainly turned into a French speaking university during the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...
.
The university was refounded as the German ''Kaiser-Wilhelm-Universität'' in 1872, after the
Franco-Prussian war and the annexation of
Alsace-Lorraine to Germany provoked a westwards exodus of Francophone teachers. During the
German Empire the university was greatly expanded and numerous new buildings were erected because the university was intended to be a showcase of German against French culture in Alsace. In 1918, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France, so a reverse exodus of Germanophone teachers took place.
During the
Second World War
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, when France was occupied, personnel and equipment of the University of Strasbourg were transferred to
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label= Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attra ...
. In its place, the short-lived German
Reichsuniversität Straßburg
The Reichsuniversität Straßburg (RUS) was founded 1941 by the National Socialists in Alsace, annexed to Nazi Germany, while the regular University of Strasbourg moved to Clermont-Ferrand in 1940. The purpose was to create a continuity to the G ...
was created.
In 1971, the university was subdivided into three separate institutions:
*
Louis Pasteur University (Strasbourg I)
*
Marc Bloch University (Strasbourg II)
*
Robert Schuman University
The ''Université Robert Schuman'', also known as Strasbourg III or URS, was a university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. In 2007, there were nearly 10,000 students enrolled at the university, including more than 1,500 foreign students. The univers ...
(Strasbourg III)
These were, however, reunited in 2009, and were able to be among the first twenty French universities to gain greater autonomy.
Buildings
The university campus covers a vast part near the center of the city, located between the "Cité Administrative", "Esplanade" and "Gallia" bus-tram stations.
Modern architectural buildings include: Escarpe, the Doctoral College of Strasbourg, Supramolecular Science and Engineering Institute (ISIS), Atrium, Pangloss, PEGE (Pôle européen de gestion et d'économie) and others. The student residence building for the Doctoral College of Strasbourg was designed by London-based
Nicholas Hare Architects
Nicholas Hare Architects is a UK architectural practice, with a portfolio of award-winning projects. These include schools, higher education, refurbishment, commercial projects, and buildings for the arts. Founded by Nicholas Hare in 1977, the pr ...
in 2007. The structures are depicted on the main inner wall of the Esplanade university restaurant, accompanied by the names of their architects and years of establishment.
The administrative organisms, attached to the university (Prefecture; CAF, LMDE, MGEL—health insurance; SNCF—national French railway company; CTS—Strasbourg urban transportation company), are located in the "Agora" building.
La Gallia à Strasbourg (29033990614).jpg, The ''Gallia'' building, formerly ''Germania'', seat of the Regional Student's Service Centre
Unistra tour de chimie et faculté de droit Strasbourg août 2019.jpg, Main Law faculty building of the former Robert Schuman University
The ''Université Robert Schuman'', also known as Strasbourg III or URS, was a university in Strasbourg, Alsace, France. In 2007, there were nearly 10,000 students enrolled at the university, including more than 1,500 foreign students. The univers ...
Absolute pege strasbourg 01.JPG, Main building of the university for economic and management studies (AKA
PEGE - Pôle Européen de gestion et d'économie
Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg (48801090856).png, The National and University Library on ''Place de la République'', former ''Kaiserplatz''
Nobel laureates
*
Karl Ferdinand Braun
Karl Ferdinand Braun (; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology: he shared the ...
*
Paul Ehrlich
Paul Ehrlich (; 14 March 1854 – 20 August 1915) was a Nobel Prize-winning German physician and scientist who worked in the fields of hematology, immunology, and antimicrobial chemotherapy. Among his foremost achievements were finding a cure ...
*
Hermann Emil Fischer
Hermann Emil Louis Fischer (; 9 October 1852 – 15 July 1919) was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of dra ...
*
Jules Hoffmann
*
Albrecht Kossel
Ludwig Karl Martin Leonhard Albrecht Kossel (; 16 September 1853 – 5 July 1927) was a German biochemist and pioneer in the study of genetics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1910 for his work in determining the ch ...
*
Martin Karplus
Martin Karplus (born March 15, 1930) is an Austrian and American theoretical chemist. He is the Director of the Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory, a joint laboratory between the French National Center for Scientific Research and the University of ...
*
Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran
*
Jean-Marie Lehn
Jean-Marie Lehn (born 30 September 1939) is a French chemist. He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Donald Cram and Charles Pedersen in 1987 for his synthesis of cryptands. Lehn was an early innovator in the field of supramo ...
*
Otto Loewi
Otto Loewi (; 3 June 1873 – 25 December 1961) was a German-born pharmacologist and psychobiologist who discovered the role of acetylcholine as an endogenous neurotransmitter. For his discovery he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Me ...
*
Otto Fritz Meyerhof
Otto Fritz Meyerhof (; April 12, 1884 – October 6, 1951) was a German physician and biochemist who won the 1922 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine.
Biography
Otto Fritz Meyerhof was born in Hannover, at Theaterplatz 16A (now:Rathenaustras ...
*
Louis Néel
Louis Eugène Félix Néel (22 November 1904 – 17 November 2000) was a French physicist born in Lyon who received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970 for his studies of the magnetic properties of solids.
Biography
Néel studied at the Lycé ...
*
Wilhelm Röntgen
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (; ; 27 March 184510 February 1923) was a German mechanical engineer and physicist, who, on 8 November 1895, produced and detected electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known as X-rays or Röntgen rays, an achiev ...
*
Albert Schweitzer
Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...
*
Hermann Staudinger
Hermann Staudinger (; 23 March 1881 – 8 September 1965) was a German organic chemist who demonstrated the existence of macromolecules, which he characterized as polymers. For this work he received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
He is also k ...
*
Adolf von Baeyer
Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer (; 31 October 1835 – 20 August 1917) was a German chemist who synthesised indigo and developed a nomenclature for cyclic compounds (that was subsequently extended and adopted as part of the IUPAC org ...
*
Max von Laue
Max Theodor Felix von Laue (; 9 October 1879 – 24 April 1960) was a German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals.
In addition to his scientific endeavors with cont ...
*
Pieter Zeeman
Pieter Zeeman (; 25 May 1865 – 9 October 1943) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Hendrik Lorentz for his discovery of the Zeeman effect.
Childhood and youth
Pieter Zeeman was born in Zonnemaire, a small to ...
*
Jean-Pierre Sauvage
Jean-Pierre Sauvage (; born 21 October 1944) is a French coordination chemist working at Strasbourg University. He graduated from the National School of Chemistry of Strasbourg (now known as ECPM Strasbourg), in 1967. He has specialized in ...
Notable people
*
Simon Schraub
Rankings
See also
*
Reichsuniversität Straßburg
The Reichsuniversität Straßburg (RUS) was founded 1941 by the National Socialists in Alsace, annexed to Nazi Germany, while the regular University of Strasbourg moved to Clermont-Ferrand in 1940. The purpose was to create a continuity to the G ...
*
Jardin botanique de l'Université de Strasbourg
*
List of early modern universities in Europe
The list of early modern universities in Europe comprises all universities that existed in the early modern age (1501–1800) in Europe. It also includes short-lived foundations and educational institutions whose university status is a matter ...
* ''
On the Poverty of Student Life''
*
Musée de minéralogie
*
Musée zoologique de la ville de Strasbourg
The Musée zoologique de la ville de Strasbourg is a natural history museum displaying the zoological collections of the city of Strasbourg, managed and curated by the University of Strasbourg.
The museum is closed since September 2019 and unti ...
References
External links
University of Strasbourg
The Art and Science collections of the University of Strasbourg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Strasbourg, University of
Educational institutions established in the 1620s
Education in Strasbourg
Public universities in France
Buildings and structures in Strasbourg
Tourist attractions in Strasbourg
Universities and colleges formed by merger in France