Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) 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 ''Öffentlichkei ...
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 ...
in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operation. Originally established in Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke Ludwig IX of Bavaria-Landshut, the university was moved in 1800 to
Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...
by
King Maximilian I of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (german: Maximilian I. Joseph; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) ...
when the city was threatened by the French, before being relocated to its present-day location in Munich in 1826 by
King Ludwig I of Bavaria en, Louis Charles Augustus , image = Joseph Karl Stieler - King Ludwig I in his Coronation Robes - WGA21796.jpg , caption = Portrait by Joseph Stieler, 1825 , succession=King of Bavaria , reign = , coronation ...
. In 1802, the university was officially named Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität by King Maximilian I of Bavaria in honor of himself and Ludwig IX. LMU is currently the second-largest university in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in terms of student population; in the 2018/19 winter semester, the university had a total of 51,606 matriculated students. Of these, 9,424 were freshmen while international students totalled 8,875 or approximately 17% of the student population. As for operating budget, the university records in 2018 a total of 734,9 million euros in funding without the university hospital; with the university hospital, the university has a total funding amounting to approximately 1.94 billion euros. As of 2020, the University of Munich is associated with 43 Nobel laureates. Among these were
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 ...
,
Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
,
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series ...
,
Otto Hahn Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission. Hahn and Lise Meitner ...
and
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
. Notable alumni, faculty and researchers include
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
,
Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (; ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys, Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project, the combined Allied ...
,
Josef Mengele , allegiance = , branch = Schutzstaffel , serviceyears = 1938–1945 , rank = ''Schutzstaffel, SS''-''Hauptsturmführer'' (Captain) , servicenumber = , battles = , unit = , awards = , command ...
,
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
,
Walter Benjamin Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin (; ; 15 July 1892 – 26 September 1940) was a German Jewish philosopher, cultural critic and essayist. An eclectic thinker, combining elements of German idealism, Romanticism, Western Marxism, and Jewish mys ...
,
Joseph Campbell Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
,
Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
,
Marie Stopes Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (15 October 1880 – 2 October 1958) was a British author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights. She made significant contributions to plant palaeontology and coal classification, ...
,
Wolfgang Pauli Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics fo ...
,
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
,
Max Horkheimer Max Horkheimer (; ; 14 February 1895 – 7 July 1973) was a German philosopher and sociologist who was famous for his work in critical theory as a member of the Frankfurt School of social research. Horkheimer addressed authoritarianism, militari ...
,
Karl Loewenstein Karl Loewenstein (November 9, 1891 in Munich – July 10, 1973 in Heidelberg) was a German lawyer and political scientist, regarded as one of the prominent figures of Constitutional law in the twentieth century. His research and investigations int ...
,
Carl Schmitt Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as a ...
,
Gustav Radbruch Gustav Radbruch (21 November 1878 – 23 November 1949) was a German legal scholar and politician. He served as Minister of Justice of Germany during the early Weimar period. Radbruch is also regarded as one of the most influential legal philoso ...
,
Ernst Cassirer Ernst Alfred Cassirer ( , ; July 28, 1874 – April 13, 1945) was a German philosopher. Trained within the Neo-Kantian Marburg School, he initially followed his mentor Hermann Cohen in attempting to supply an idealistic philosophy of science. Aft ...
,
Ernst Bloch Ernst Simon Bloch (; July 8, 1885 – August 4, 1977; pseudonyms: Karl Jahraus, Jakob Knerz) was a German Marxist philosopher. Bloch was influenced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as by apocalyptic and religious thinkers ...
and
Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
. LMU has recently been conferred the title of "University of Excellence" under the
German Universities Excellence Initiative The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen cooperatio ...
, and is a member of U15 as well as the
LERU 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 2002 ...
. In
university ranking College and university rankings order the best institutions in higher education based on factors that vary depending on the ranking. Some rankings evaluate institutions within a single country, while others assess institutions worldwide. Ranking ...
s, the university is consistently placed among the best universities in Germany.


History


1472–1800

The university was founded with papal approval in 1472 as the
University of Ingolstadt The University of Ingolstadt was founded in 1472 by Louis the Rich, the Duke of Bavaria at the time, and its first Chancellor was the Bishop of Eichstätt. It consisted of five faculties: humanities, sciences, theology, law, and medicine, all o ...
(foundation right of Louis IX the Rich), with faculties of philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence and theology. Its first rector was Christopher Mendel of Steinfels, who later became
bishop of Chiemsee The Bishopric of Chiemsee was a Roman Catholic diocese. While based on the islands of the Chiemsee in Bavaria, Germany, most of its territory lay in the County of Tyrol, Austria. The bishopric ceased to be a residential see in 1808. and accordin ...
. In the period of German humanism, the university's academics included names such as
Conrad Celtes Conrad Celtes (german: Konrad Celtes; la, Conradus Celtis (Protucius); 1 February 1459 – 4 February 1508) was a German Renaissance humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance born in Franconia (nowadays part of Bavaria). He led the ...
and
Petrus Apianus Petrus Apianus (April 16, 1495 – April 21, 1552), also known as Peter Apian, Peter Bennewitz, and Peter Bienewitz, was a German humanist, known for his works in mathematics, astronomy and cartography. His work on "cosmography", the field that de ...
. The theologian
Johann Eck Johann Maier von Eck (13 November 1486 – 13 February 1543), often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and a pioneer of the counter-reformation who was among Martin Luther's most important int ...
also taught at the university. From 1549 to 1773, the university was influenced by the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
and became one of the centres of the
Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...
. The Jesuit
Petrus Canisius Peter Canisius ( nl, Pieter Kanis; 8 May 1521 – 21 December 1597) was a Dutch Jesuit Catholic priest. He became known for his strong support for the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, Swit ...
served as rector of the university. At the end of the 18th century, the university was influenced by the Enlightenment, which led to a stronger emphasis on
natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
.


1800–1933

In 1800, the Prince-Elector Maximilian IV Joseph (the later Maximilian I, King of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
) moved the university to
Landshut Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...
, due to French aggression that threatened Ingolstadt during the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. In 1802, the university was renamed the Ludwig Maximilian University in honour of its two founders,
Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria Louis IX (german: Ludwig IX, Herzog von Bayern-Landshut, also known as Louis the Rich; 23 February 1417 – 18 January 1479) was Duke of Bavaria-Landshut from 1450. He was a son of Henry XVI the Rich and Margaret of Austria. Louis was the ...
and
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria Maximilian I (17 April 157327 September 1651), occasionally called the Great, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Duke of Bavaria from 1597. His reign was marked by the Thirty Years' War during which he obtained the title of a Prince- ...
. The Minister of Education,
Maximilian von Montgelas Maximilian Karl Joseph Franz de Paula Hieronymus de Garnerin de la Thuile, Count von Montgelas (german: Maximilian Karl Joseph Franz de Paula Hieronymus de Garnerin de la Thuille Graf von Montgelas; 12 September 1759 Munich – 14 June 1838 ...
, initiated a number of reforms that sought to modernize the rather conservative and Jesuit-influenced university. In 1826, it was moved to
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, the capital of the
Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German E ...
. The university was situated in the
Old Academy The Academy (Ancient Greek: Ἀκαδημία) was founded by Plato in c. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years (367–347 BC) before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic p ...
until a new building in the
Ludwigstraße The Ludwigstraße in Munich is one of the city's four royal avenues next to the Brienner Straße, the Maximilianstraße and the Prinzregentenstraße. Principal was King Ludwig I of Bavaria, the avenue is named in his honour. The city's grandest ...
was completed. The locals were somewhat critical of the number of Protestant professors Maximilian and later Ludwig I invited to Munich. They were dubbed the "Nordlichter" (northern lights) and especially physician Johann Nepomuk von Ringseis was quite angry about them. In the second half of the 19th century, the university rose to great prominence in the European scientific community, attracting many of the world's leading scientists. It was also a period of great expansion. From 1903, women were allowed to study at Bavarian universities, and by 1918, the female proportion of students at LMU had reached 18%. In 1918, Adele Hartmann became the first woman in Germany to earn the
Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...
(higher doctorate), at LMU. During the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
, the university continued to be one of the world's leading universities, with professors such as
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 ...
,
Wilhelm Wien Wilhelm Carl Werner Otto Fritz Franz Wien (; 13 January 1864 – 30 August 1928) was a German physicist who, in 1893, used theories about heat and electromagnetism to deduce Wien's displacement law, which calculates the emission of a blackbody ...
,
Richard Willstätter Richard Martin Willstätter FRS(For) HFRSE (, 13 August 1872 – 3 August 1942) was a German organic chemist whose study of the structure of plant pigments, chlorophyll included, won him the 1915 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Willstätter invente ...
,
Arnold Sommerfeld Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, (; 5 December 1868 – 26 April 1951) was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretica ...
and
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 ...
.


1933–1945

During the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, academic freedom was severely curtailed. In 1943 the
White Rose The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, ...
group of anti-Nazi students conducted their campaign of opposition to the National Socialists at this university. The university stripped the nazi-opposition fighter Kurt Huber of his position and his doctorate at the time of his arrest.


1945–present

The university has continued to be one of the leading universities of
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and in the post-reunification era. In the late 1960s, the university was the scene of protests by radical students. Today, the University of Munich is part of 24 Collaborative Research Centers funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is host university of 13 of them. It also hosts 12 DFG Research Training Groups and three international doctorate programs as part of the Elite Network of Bavaria, an educational policy concept of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
for the promotion of gifted pupils and students in the higher education sector. It attracts an additional 120 million euros per year in outside funding and is intensively involved in national and international funding initiatives. LMU Munich has a wide range of degree programs, with 150 subjects available in numerous combinations. 15% of the 45,000 students who attend the university come from abroad. In 2005, Germany's state and federal governments launched the
German Universities Excellence Initiative The Excellence Initiative of the German Council of Science and Humanities and the German Research Foundation (DFG) aims to promote cutting-edge research and to create outstanding conditions for young scholars at universities, to deepen cooperatio ...
, a contest among its universities. With a total of 1.9 billion euros, 75 percent of which comes from the federal state, its architects aim to strategically promote top-level research and
scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...
. The money is given to more than 30 research universities in Germany. The initiative will fund three project-oriented areas:
graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...
s to promote the next generation of scholars, clusters of excellence to promote cutting-edge research and "future concepts" for the project-based expansion of academic excellence at universities as a whole. In order to qualify for this third area, a university had to have at least one internationally recognized academic
center of excellence A center of excellence (COE or CoE ), also called excellence center, is a team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support or training for a focus area. Due to its broad usage and vague legal prec ...
and a new graduate school. After the first round of selections, LMU Munich was invited to submit applications for all three funding lines: It entered the competition with proposals for two graduate schools and four clusters of excellence. On Friday 13 October 2006, a blue-ribbon panel announced the results of the Germany-wide Excellence Initiative for promoting top university research and education. The panel, composed of the
German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
and the German Science Council, has decided that LMU Munich will receive funding for all three areas covered by the Initiative: one graduate school, three "excellence clusters" and general funding for the university's "future concept". In January 2012, scientists at the Ludwig Maximilian University published details of the most sensitive listening device known so far. This has led to the college being inducted into the Guinness book of world records. In September 2018, the Munich public prosecutor's office investigated against a vice president of the university on suspicion of unfaithfulness. The vice president should have claimed "excessive travel expenses". In the following year, veterinary students reported that the LMU violated animal welfare. According to them, the LMU keeps pigs in tight grid boxes, so that some animals showed scratches, bumps and respiratory diseases from lying down. Students who report these circumstances told that they been threatened with the deregistration of the university. In the beginning of 2020, the LMU locked around 80 students in a room who wanted to discuss under the topic "Climate Burns, University Burns" why universities are doing research for companies that are harmful to the
climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...
.


Campus

LMU's institutes and research centers are spread throughout Munich, with several buildings located in the suburbs of Oberschleissheim and
Garching Garching bei München (''Garching near Munich'') or Garching is a town in Bavaria, Germany, near Munich. It is the home of several research institutes and university departments on its campus. It became a city on 14 September 1990. Location The ...
as well as
Maisach Maisach is a municipality in the district of Fürstenfeldbruck, in Bavaria, Germany. Maisach is the largest municipality in the Fürstenfeldbruck district. It is situated north of Fürstenfeldbruck, and northwest of Munich. It is served by an ...
and
Bad Tölz Bad Tölz (; Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Däiz'') is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany and the administrative center of the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district. History Archaeology has shown continuous occupation of the site of Bad Tö ...
. The university's main buildings are grouped around Geschwister-Scholl-Platz and Professor-Huber-Platz on Ludwigstrasse, extending into side streets such as Akademiestraße, Schellingstraße, and Veterinärstraße. Other large campuses and institutes are located in
Großhadern Großhadern (in the town district Hadern) is a district in the south-west of the Bavarian state capital Munich. Großhadern is primarily a bourgeois residential area. Exceptions are the so-called "village core" with numerous small shops as well as ...
(
Klinikum Großhadern The LMU Klinikum (until 2020 ''Klinikum der Universität München'') is the merged hospital complex of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), including the ''Campus Innenstadt'' in the city center and the '' Campus Großhadern'' in Hade ...
),
Martinsried Martinsried is one of Munich's two science suburbs. It is a section of Planegg municipality in the district of Munich in Bavaria, Germany. Martinsried is best known as the location of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, the Max Planck Inst ...
(chemistry and biotechnology campus), the Ludwigsvorstadt (Klinikum Innenstadt) and in the
Lehel Lehel ( hu, Lél; died 955), a member of the Árpád dynasty, was a Magyar chieftain and, together with Bulcsú, one of the most important figures of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. After the Magyar defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld, he was ex ...
( Institut am Englischen Garten), across from the main buildings, through the
Englischer Garten The ''Englischer Garten'' (, ''English Garden'') is a large public park in the centre of Munich, Bavaria, stretching from the city centre to the northeastern city limits. It was created in 1789 by Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814), later Count ...
. The university's main building is situated in
Geschwister-Scholl-Platz (Scholl Siblings Plaza) is a short semi-circular plaza located in front of the main building of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (), located on the Ludwigstraße in Munich, Germany. The plaza is named in memory of Sophie Scholl and her ...
and the university's main campus is served by the Munich subway's Universität station.


Great Assembly Hall (Große Aula)

The große Aula is located in the university main building at Ludwigstraße in Munich. The Aula was constructed as part of the main building by
Friedrich von Gärtner Friedrich von Gärtner (10 December 1791 in Koblenz – 21 April 1847 in Munich) was a German architect. Biography His father was also an architect, and moved in 1804 to Munich, where young Gärtner received his first education in archite ...
and completed in 1840. The hall is situated in the first
floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...
and extends to the second floor. The Aula was not destroyed during
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and, thus, is one of few usable pre war venues in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. The Aula was used for the first performances of concerts after the war. Furthermore, it was venue for the constituent assembly of the state of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, where the current Bavarian constitution was enacted. Today, the Aula hosts mainly concerts, talks and lectures.


Academics


Fields of study

Despite the Bologna Process which saw the demise of most traditional academic-degree courses such as the ''
Diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus ...
'' and ''
Magister Artium A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
'' in favour of the more internationally known
Bachelors A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymo ...
and Masters system, the University of Munich continues to offer more than 100 areas of study with numerous combinations of majors and minors. In line with the university's internationalisation as a popular destination for tertiary studies, an increasing number of courses mainly at the graduate and post-graduate levels are also available in English to cater to international students who may have little or no background in the German language. Some notable subject areas which currently offer programmes in English include various fields of
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
,
physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
as well as
business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...
and
management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...
.


Faculties

The university consists of 18 faculties which oversee various departments and institutes. The official numbering of the faculties and the missing numbers 06 and 14 are the result of breakups and mergers of faculties in the past. The Faculty of Forestry Operations with number 06 has been integrated into the
Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...
in 1999 and faculty number 14 has been merged with faculty number 13. * 01 Faculty of Catholic Theology * 02 Faculty of
Protestant Theology Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
* 03 Faculty of Law * 04 Faculty of Business administration, Business Administration * 05 Faculty of Economics * 07 Faculty of Medicine * 08 Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Veterinary Medicine * 09 Faculty for History and the Arts * 10 Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Study of Religion * 11 Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences * 12 Faculty for the Study of Culture * 13 Faculty for Languages and Literatures * 15 Faculty of Social Sciences * 16 Faculty of Mathematics, Computer science, Computer Science and Statistics * 17 Faculty of Physics * 18 Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy * 19 Faculty of Biology * 20 Faculty of Earth science, Geosciences and Environmental science, Environmental Sciences


Research centres

In addition to its 18 faculties, the University of Munich also maintains numerous research centres involved in numerous cross-faculty and transdisciplinary projects to complement its various academic programmes. Some of these research centres were a result of cooperation between the university and renowned external partners from academia and industry; the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society, for example, was established through a joint initiative between LMU Munich and the Deutsches Museum, while the Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking resulted from the collaboration between the Parmenides Foundation and LMU Munich's Human Science Center. Some of the research centres which have been established include: * Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) * Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) * Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health * Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM) * Parmenides Foundation, Parmenides Center for the Study of Thinking * Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society


Tuition and fees

Universities in Bavaria do not charge tuition fees. Instead, a semester fee and a mandatory off-hours public transportation semester ticket (for the Münchner Verkehrs- und Tarifverbund, Munich Transport and Tariff Association, MVV) have to be paid. A full network pass is optionally available. This mixed model is the result of several years of negotiations to allow students to get an affordable semester ticket despite the high costs of regular tickets in Munich. The current package was accepted by an overwhelming majority of 86.3% of students across all Munich universities in 2012 and introduced in the 2013 winter term.


Rankings

LMU Munich is ranked as follows: *The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Times Higher Education Ranking 2022 ranks LMU Munich 2nd in Germany, and 33rd in the world. * In 2022, QS World University Rankings ranks LMU Munich 59th overall in the world and 2nd in Germany. * The Shanghai Jiao Tong University's Academic Ranking of World Universities ranks LMU Munich 2nd nationally and 57th in the world as of 2022 * The Best Global Universities Ranking of the ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranks LMU Munich 1st nationally and 47th in the world as of 2022 * In November 2018 Expertscape recognized it as one of the top ten institutions in the world in pancreatic cancer *In 2018 and 2019, the LMU took 1st place based on the number of DAX board of management members.Michael Proft. (2018). 7. DAX-Vorstands-ReportKlaus Hansen. (2019). 8. DAX-Vorstands-Report The top 3 universities in 2019 were the LMU Munich, the RWTH Aachen University, RWTH Aachen and the Technische Universität Darmstadt. *According to the funding report of the
German Research Foundation The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
(DFG) of 2018, which breaks down the grants from 2014 to 2016, LMU Munich ranked 10th among German universities in the humanities and social sciences, 6th in the List of life sciences, life sciences and 10th in
natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
s. In engineering, it is not among the top 40. The approvals were normalised to the size of the university. In a competitive selection process, the DFG selects the best research projects from researchers at universities and research institutes and finances them. The ranking is thus regarded as an indicator of the quality of research.


''One Munich Strategy Forum''

The LMU and the
Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...
have come together to work on "One Munich Strategy Forum", with a €2.5 million fund from the state of
Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
.


Munich International Summer University (MISU at LMU Munich)

The Munich International Summer University (MISU at LMU) is the Summer University by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), which takes place annually in Munich and depending on the course also involves stays at different European cities. MISU at LMU Munich invites international students to attend short-term programs at the LMU Munich in order to progress academically even in winter or summer breaks at their home university. MISU hereby offers two course formats: On the one hand German Language classes are held at different times over the year. On the other hand, MISU offers 16 subject-specific Summer Schools and Winter Schools covering a wide range of academic fields. Around 1000 students from nearly 90 countries joined MISU short-term programs in 2019.


History

Germany has a long tradition of hosting summer programs for international students. The LMU Munich organised its Summer University for the first time in 1927. Labelled as ''Sommerkurse für Ausländer'' (''Summer Courses for Foreigners'') the Summer University ran annually until 1934 and primarily consisted of German Language courses for international students. After a longer intermittence period, LMU's Summer University resumed as ''Internationaler Münchner Sommer'' (''International Summer in Munich''). Since then the number of courses has increased and the range of subject-specific Summer Schools was extended to further academic disciplines. From 2008 onwards LMU's Summer University operates under the name Munich International Summer University (MISU).


Objectives

A central aim of MISU is to boost the interntationality of the LMU Munich in terms of research and teaching. Compared to semester-based student exchange programs, short-term programs such as Summer Schools have the advantage for international students to receive a very intensive and concise insight into the research areas and campus at the LMU Munich. MISU hereby has the objective to combine excellent academic education with extra-curricular activities. Participants are thus not only supervised intensively by established researchers on selected topics but are also introduced to the history, culture and politics of Munich, Bavaria and Germany. Moreover, the Summer University allows the LMU Munich to intensify cooperation with international partner universities. MISU's short-term programs therefore strengthen the LMU's international visibility as one of the highest ranked universities in Europe. Having attended MISU courses, students might consider pursuing a postgraduate study or a doctoral degree at the LMU Munich in the future. Participants who fulfilled all course requirements are awarded with graded certificates and ECTS credits in line with the European Credit Transfer System.


Courses

MISU offers two course formats: subject-specific summer academies and German Language Classes. MISU's summer academies are subject-specific courses that either introduce students to new topics or upgrade students' knowledge on research areas in academic fields of interest. The summer academies are designed and organized in close cooperation with LMU's faculties and researchers. Most of the summer academies are open for students of different academic backgrounds and levels. Interdisciplinary seminars bring the advantage that students may exchange information beyond their respective academic fields and may hence learn from each other about new perspectives. The number of participants per course is limited in order to ensure intensive supervision and student interactions in class. Most of the summer academies do not only take place in Munich but also provide for academic and culturally motivated stays in other European cities. The following academic disciplines are covered by MISU summer academies. * Economics, Business and Communication (Electronic media, Management accounting, Analytics) * Social Sciences (European studies, Middle Eastern studies) * Law (Law of Germany, European Union Law, International law) * Medicine (Oncology, Neurology, Medical research) * Natural Sciences (Quantum Optics, Neuroscience) MISU's German Language Courses are open for students all over the world. Courses are geared towards the aim to teach the German language in its academic, social and cultural context in order to ensure that students advance their language skills while also improving their knowledge on Germany. Therefore, MISU offers Language courses for all levels – basic, intermediate and advanced – at different times of the year. The Federal Republic of Germany offers scholarships for these purposes through the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD). * Summer German Language Courses * Study Preparation Courses * Specialized Courses for Advanced Learners


Notable alumni and faculty members

The alumni of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich played a major role in the development of quantum mechanics.
Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
, the founder of Quantum mechanics, quantum theory and Nobel laureate in Physics in 1918, was an alumnus of the university. Founders of quantum mechanics such as
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series ...
,
Wolfgang Pauli Wolfgang Ernst Pauli (; ; 25 April 1900 – 15 December 1958) was an Austrian theoretical physicist and one of the pioneers of quantum physics. In 1945, after having been nominated by Albert Einstein, Pauli received the Nobel Prize in Physics fo ...
, and others were associated with the university. Most recently, to honor the Nobel laureate in Chemistry Gerhard Ertl, who worked as a professor at the University of Munich from 1973 to 1986, the building of the Physical Chemistry was named after him. Pakistani philosopher and poet Sir
Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
, regarded as the "Poet of the East" and "The Thinker of Pakistan", earned his Doctor of Philosophy, PhD degree from the Ludwig Maximilian University,
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
in 1908. Working under the guidance of Fritz Hommel, Friedrich Hommel, Iqbal published his doctoral thesis in 1908, entitled ''The Development of Metaphysics in Persia''. The Anti-fascism, anti-Nazi resistance
White Rose The White Rose (german: Weiße Rose, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students (and one professor) at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, ...
was based in this university. File:Pope Benedict XVI 2.jpg,
Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...
was a student and professor at LMU Munich File:Roentgen2.jpg, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 File:Theodor Haensch.jpg, Theodor W. Hänsch received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005 File:Otto Hahn (Nobel).jpg,
Otto Hahn Otto Hahn (; 8 March 1879 – 28 July 1968) was a German chemist who was a pioneer in the fields of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He is referred to as the father of nuclear chemistry and father of nuclear fission. Hahn and Lise Meitner ...
received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944 File:Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg.jpg,
Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent series ...
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 File:Max Planck 1933.jpg,
Max Planck Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (, ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918. Planck made many substantial contributions to theoretical p ...
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918 File:Hans Bethe.jpg, Hans Bethe received the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physics File:Thomas Mann in 1926.jpg, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize-winning novelist
Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
was a student at LMU Munich File:Karl Jaspers 1946.jpg, Karl Jaspers was a German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher File:Iqbal in 1931.jpg, Philosopher, Persian and Urdu poet Sir
Muhammad Iqbal Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
studied philosophy at LMU Munich File:Hans-Werner Sinn 17Jan2008 .jpg, Hans-Werner Sinn, professor of economics at LMU Munich File:Dean Blake Van Leer.jpg, Blake Ragsdale Van Leer, United States Army officer and president of Georgia Institute of Technology File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F078072-0004, Konrad Adenauer.jpg,
Konrad Adenauer Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
was Chancellor of Germany (1949–present), Chancellor of Germany from 1949 to 1963 File:Valdas Adamkus 16072008.jpg, Valdas Adamkus, President of Lithuania 1998–2003 and 2004–2009 File:Bertolt-Brecht.jpg,
Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
, poet, playwright and theatre director File:Max Weber 1894.jpg, The sociologist Max Weber was a professor at LMU Munich File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0313-507, Rudolf Hess.jpg, Rudolf Hess was the Deputy Führer of Nazi Germany, National Socialist Germany from 1933 to 1941 File:Josef Mengele, Auschwitz. Album Höcker (cropped).jpg,
Josef Mengele , allegiance = , branch = Schutzstaffel , serviceyears = 1938–1945 , rank = ''Schutzstaffel, SS''-''Hauptsturmführer'' (Captain) , servicenumber = , battles = , unit = , awards = , command ...
was a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer File:Hermann Göring - Röhr.jpg, Hermann Göring was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-0630-504, Heinrich Brüning.jpg, Heinrich Brüning served as Chancellor of Germany during the
Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
from 1930 to 1932 File:DPAG 2009 Theodor Heuss.jpg, Theodor Heuss served as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany


See also

* Education in Germany * List of forestry universities and colleges * List of modern universities in Europe (1801–1945) * List of universities in Germany


Notes


References


External links

*
360° Panorama at the Ludwig Maximilian UniversityMunich International Summer University (MISU at LMU Munich)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Universities and colleges in Munich Public universities and colleges in Germany, Munich Educational institutions established in 1826 1826 establishments in Bavaria Tourist attractions in Munich Historicist architecture in Munich Universities established in the 19th century