The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a
public research university
A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...
in the city of
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 by
George II, King of Great Britain and
Elector of Hanover, it began instruction in 1737 and is recognized as the oldest university in Lower Saxony.
Recognized for its historic and traditional significance, the university has affiliations with 47 Nobel Prize winners by its own count. Previously backed by 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 coopera ...
, the University of Göttingen is a member of the
U15 Group of major German research universities, underscoring its strong research profile. It is also a part of prominent international and European academic networks such as
The Guild, the ENLIGHT alliance, and the Hekksagon network. The university maintains close collaborations with leading Göttingen-based research institutions such as
Max Planck Society
The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...
, the
Leibniz Association
The Leibniz Association (German: ''Leibniz-Gemeinschaft'' or ''Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz'') is a union of German non-university research institutes from various disciplines.
Funding and Structure
As of 2020, 96 non-u ...
, the
Fraunhofer Society
The Fraunhofer Society () is a German publicly-owned research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany, each focusing on different fields of applied science (as opposed to the Max Planck Society, which works primarily on Basic re ...
, and the
Helmholtz Association
The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres () is the largest scientific organisation in Germany. It is a union of 18 scientific-technical and biological-medical research centers. The official mission of the Association is "solving the g ...
. With its extensive collection, the
Göttingen State and University Library stands among Germany's largest libraries.
History
Inauguration
In 1734, King
George II of Great Britain
George II (George Augustus; ; 30 October / 9 November 1683 – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Electorate of Hanover, Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Em ...
and
Elector of Hanover, commanded his Prime Minister in Hanover, Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen, to establish a university in Göttingen to spread the ideals of the
Enlightenment.
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
famously remarked, "Göttingen belongs neither to a State, nor to Germany, and is the University of Europe".
The initial university infrastructure was modest, comprising only a
riding hall
A riding hall, indoor arena, indoor school (UK English), or indoor ring (US English) is a building (part of an equestrian facility) that is specially designed for indoor horse riding. Smaller, private buildings contain only space for riding, w ...
and a
fencing
Fencing is a combat sport that features sword fighting. It consists of three primary disciplines: Foil (fencing), foil, épée, and Sabre (fencing), sabre (also spelled ''saber''), each with its own blade and set of rules. Most competitive fe ...
house, with lectures held in the
Paulinerkirche,
Dominican monastery, or professors' homes. A university auditorium wasn't constructed until the 19th century.
18th–19th centuries
Throughout the 18th century, the University of Göttingen was renowned among German universities for its commitment to the free spirit and scientific exploration.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (; 1 July 1742 – 24 February 1799) was a German physicist, satirist, and Anglophile. He was the first person in Germany to hold a professorship explicitly dedicated to experimental physics. He is remembered for his p ...
, a prominent scholar, held one of the first professorships dedicated to experimental physics in Germany from 1769 to 1799. By 1812, Göttingen had established itself as a modern, internationally recognized university, boasting a library with over 200,000 volumes. This period marked Göttingen's ascendancy in academic circles, emphasizing its role in fostering an environment conducive to scientific inquiry and innovation.
In the first years of the University of Göttingen, it became known especially for its
Faculty of Law
A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...
. 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
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a German philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named aft ...
, who later established the
University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany.
The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...
. In the 19th century,
Gustav Hugo,
Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, and
Georg Friedrich Sartorius, who taught law here, became the pioneers of the
German Historical School of Jurisprudence. At the time, Göttingen was a very popular place for the study of law in Germany: Even the great German poet
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...
obtained a doctorate in law here in 1825.
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
, the main creator and the first Chancellor of the second
German Empire
The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...
, 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. 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.
At the end of the 19th century, the famous civil law scholar
Rudolf von Jhering
Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering (; also Ihering; 22 August 1818 – 17 September 1892) was a German jurist. He is best known for his 1872 book ''Der Kampf ums Recht'' (''The Struggle for Law''), as a legal scholar, and as the founder of a mo ...
, who created the theory of "culpa in contrahendo" (fault in conclusion of a contract), remained a law professor in Göttingen until he died.
Lassa Francis Lawrence Oppenheim, known as the father of the modern discipline of international law and author of the famous two-volume "International Law: A Treatise", earned his doctorate in law from the University of Göttingen in 1881.
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 1809,
Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the Phenomenon, phenomenal world as ...
, the German philosopher best known for his work ''The World as Will and Representation'', became a student at the university, where he studied
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
and
psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
under
Gottlob Ernst Schulze, who advised him to concentrate on
Plato
Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
and
Kant
Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...
.
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
The Göttingen school of history was a group of historians associated with a particular style of historiography located at the University of Göttingen in the late 18th century.
The University of Göttingen was the original centre of the " Geschi ...
. Later,
Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
, one of the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society, also studied history in Göttingen.
The
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
, the best-known storytellers of folktales like "
Cinderella
"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a Folklore, folk tale with thousands of variants that are told throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press, 1988. The protagonist is a you ...
", "
The Frog Prince
"The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimms' Fairy Tales, ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1). Traditionally, it is the fir ...
", "
Little Red Riding Hood
"Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...
", "
Sleeping Beauty
"Sleeping Beauty" (, or ''The Beauty Sleeping in the Wood''; , or ''Little Briar Rose''), also titled in English as ''The Sleeping Beauty in the Woods'', is a fairy tale about a princess curse, cursed by an evil fairy to suspended animation in fi ...
", and "
Snow White
"Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...
", taught here and compiled the first German dictionary.
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
Wilhelm Eduard Weber ( ; ; 24 October 1804 – 23 June 1891) was a German physicist and, together with Carl Friedrich Gauss, inventor of the first electromagnetic telegraph.
Biography
Early years
Weber was born in Schlossstrasse in Witte ...
(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
Ernest Augustus (; 5 June 177118 November 1851) was King of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until his death in 1851. As the fifth son of George III of the United Kingdom and Hanover, he initially seemed unlikely to become a monarch, but none of his e ...
, of the liberal constitution of 1833 hurt the reputation of the city and the university.
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. The tradition began with
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observatory and ...
, who was known as "the Prince of Mathematicians" and taught here in the 18th century. Thereafter,
Dirichlet
Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (; ; 13 February 1805 – 5 May 1859) was a German mathematician. In number theory, he proved special cases of Fermat's last theorem and created analytic number theory. In Mathematical analysis, analysis, h ...
and
Riemann took over the chair successively and made significant contributions in the fields of algebra, geometry, and number theory. By 1900,
David Hilbert
David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time.
Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental idea ...
and
Felix Klein
Felix Christian Klein (; ; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and Mathematics education, mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and the associations betwe ...
had attracted mathematicians from around the world to Göttingen, which made it a leading center of mathematics by the turn of the 20th century.
In 1903, its teaching staff numbered 121 and its students 1529.
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology.
In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
, a famous philosopher known as the father of
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...
, moved to Göttingen to teach.
Ludwig Prandtl
Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German Fluid mechanics, fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlyin ...
joined the University of Göttingen in 1904, and developed it into a leader in
fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them.
Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...
and in
aerodynamics
Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...
over the next two decades. In 1925, Prandtl was appointed as the director of the
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science () was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organi ...
for Fluid Mechanics. He introduced the concept of
boundary layer
In physics and fluid mechanics, a boundary layer is the thin layer of fluid in the immediate vicinity of a Boundary (thermodynamic), bounding surface formed by the fluid flowing along the surface. The fluid's interaction with the wall induces ...
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. Between 1921 and 1933, the physics theory group was led by
Max Born
Max Born (; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German-British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics, and supervised the work of a ...
, who, during this time, became one of the three discoverers of the non-relativistic theory of
quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
. 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
Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity, and genera ...
.
Oppenheimer, the American scientist and "father of the atomic bomb", was one of
Max Born
Max Born (; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German-British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics, and supervised the work of a ...
's most famous students and received his doctorate here.
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
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
and Göttingen. For example,
Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mas ...
, once
Secretary of State and President of
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, stayed in Göttingen for two years of study.
George Ticknor spent two years studying classics in Göttingen. Even
John Lothrop Motley
John Lothrop Motley (April 15, 1814 – May 29, 1877) was an American author and diplomat. As a popular historian, he is best known for his works on the Netherlands, the three volume work ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic'' and four volume ''His ...
, a diplomat and historian, had personal friendship with Otto von Bismarck during his two-year-long study in Göttingen.
George Bancroft
George Bancroft (October 3, 1800 – January 17, 1891) was an American historian, statesman and Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who was prominent in promoting secondary education both in his home state of Massachusetts ...
, 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
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
crackdown on "Jewish physics", as represented by the work of
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
. In what was later called the
"great purge" of 1933, academics including
Max Born
Max Born (; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German-British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics, and supervised the work of a ...
,
Victor Goldschmidt
Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (27 January 1888 – 20 March 1947) was a Norwegian mineralogist considered (together with Vladimir Vernadsky) to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry, developer of the Goldschmidt Classificatio ...
,
James Franck,
Eugene Wigner
Eugene Paul Wigner (, ; November 17, 1902 – January 1, 1995) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who also contributed to mathematical physics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 "for his contributions to the theory of th ...
,
Leó Szilárd,
Edward Teller
Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...
,
Edmund Landau
Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis.
Biography
Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopo ...
,
Emmy Noether
Amalie Emmy Noether (23 March 1882 – 14 April 1935) was a German mathematician who made many important contributions to abstract algebra. She also proved Noether's theorem, Noether's first and Noether's second theorem, second theorems, which ...
, and
Richard Courant
Richard Courant (January 8, 1888 – January 27, 1972) was a German-American mathematician. He is best known by the general public for the book '' What is Mathematics?'', co-written with Herbert Robbins. His research focused on the areas of real ...
were expelled or fled. Most of them fled
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
for places like the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Following the great purge, in 1934
David Hilbert
David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time.
Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental idea ...
, 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
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the University of Göttingen was the first university in the
western Zones to be re-opened under British control in 1945. Göttingen's glorious history of affiliation with numerous celebrities continued:
Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.
Associated with the Frankfurt S ...
, a famous German philosopher and sociologist, pursued his study in Göttingen. Later,
Richard von Weizsäcker, a late
President of Germany
The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...
, earned his doctorate in law here.
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...
, a former
Chancellor of Germany
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal Cabinet of Germany, government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Government of Germany, ...
, also graduated from the
Faculty of Law in Göttingen.
Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...
,
President of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission, also known as president of the College of Commissioners is the Head of government, head of the European Commission, the Executive (government), executive branch of the European Union (EU). The president ...
, studied economics in Göttingen, where she met her husband
Heiko von der Leyen.
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. In other parts of 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 9 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
As of 2023, the university consists of 13 faculties and around 22,484 students are enrolled. 535 professors and over 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 38 additional centers and institutes (including associated centers and institutes but excluding institutes or departments within the faculties themselves).
;Faculties
* Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
* Faculty of Biology and Psychology
* Faculty of Chemistry
* Faculty of Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology
* Faculty of Geoscience and Geography
* Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
* Faculty of Physics
*
Faculty of Law
A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...
* Faculty of Social Sciences
* Faculty of Economic Sciences
* Faculty of Humanities
*
Faculty of Theology
* Medical Center (Universitätsmedizin Göttingen)
;Centers and institutes
Humanities and Theology
* Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig)
* Centre for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS)
* Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS)
* Centrum Orbis Orientalis et Occidentalis (CORO) – Centre for Ancient and Oriental Studies
* The Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities (GCDH)
* Göttinger Center for Gender Studies (GCG)
* International Writing Centre
* Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (ZMF)
* Center of Modern Humanities (ZTMK)
* Forum for Interdisciplinary Religious Studies (FIRSt)
Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Informatics
* Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Göttingen (BCCN)
* Courant Research Center Higher Order Structures in Mathematics
* European Neuroscience Institute (ENI)
* Geoscience Centre
* Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences (GZMB)
* Göttingen Campus Institute for Dynamics of Biological Networks
* International Center for Advanced Studies of Energy Conversion (ICASEC)
* Leibniz-ScienceCampus Primate Cognition
* Center for Computational Sciences
* Centre of Biodiversity and sustainable Land Use
* Center for Integrated Breeding Research
* Centre for Nanoscale Microscopy and Molecular Physiology of the Brain (CNMPB)
* Center for Systems Neuroscience
* Centre for Statistics (ZfS)
Law, Economic Sciences, and Social Sciences
* Center for European, Governance and Economic Development Research (cege)
* Courant Research Centre Poverty, Equity and Growth in Developing Countries
* Göttingen Center for Genderstudies (GGG)
* Diversity Research Institute
* Interdisciplinary Center for Sustainable Development (IZNE)
* Center for Social Science Methods (MZS)
* Centre for Empirical Research into Teaching and Schools (ZeUS)
* Centre for Medical Law
Associated Institutes
* Academic Confucius Institute (AKI)
* Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK)
* Institute of Sugar Beet Research
* Institute of Applied Plant Nutrition (IAPN)
* Sociological Research Institute (SOFI)
* Institute for Economics in Small Business Economics
Academics
Rankings
In the
QS World University Rankings
The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...
2024, it was placed the 232nd internationally and the 13th nationally.
The
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', often referred to as the THE Rankings, is the annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli Symon ...
for 2024 ranked it as 111th globally and 10th at the national level.
According to the 2023
ARWU World Rankings, the university holds a position within the 151–200 range internationally and between the 6th and 9th domestically.
In the 2023 Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), the University of Göttingen was ranked the 97th worldwide and the 6th nationwide. In the 2024–2025
US News Best Global Universities Rankings, it was ranked tied for 172nd globally and the 8th nationally.

Within the framework of the 2006–07
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 coopera ...
, 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". In September 2018, Göttingen succeeded in gaining funds for its research cluster "Multiscale Bioimaging".
Historical reputation and impact
The University of Göttingen is a traditional institution with a significant historical standing. This is substantiated by a scientific study on the historical development of world university rankings starting in 2013, which examined a web dataset from 24 Wikipedia language versions, covering 59% of the world's population and accounting for 68% of all Wikipedia articles across 287 languages. This comprehensive analysis identified the most influential universities globally over the past ten centuries, resulting in the "2017 Wikipedia World University Rankings", where the University of Göttingen ranked the 20th in terms of "web page rank" (search engine data), the 8th on account of "chei rank" (interactive citation data), and the 6th in the world on "2D rank" combining both categories of data.
As of 2002, the University of Göttingen was associated with 44 Nobel laureates according to an official count released by the University of Göttingen in that year. By this number alone, the University of Göttingen ranked among the global top 15 universities. Recent Nobel laureates associated with the university are
Klaus Hasselmann
Klaus Ferdinand Hasselmann (; born 25 October 1931) is a German oceanographer and climate mathematical model, modeller. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hamburg and former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. He wa ...
(
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...
, 2021),
Stefan Hell (
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...
, 2014),
Thomas C. Südhof (
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine () is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, acco ...
, 2013), and
Thomas Arthur Steitz (
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...
, 2009). Klaus Hasselmann received his PhD in physics from the University of Göttingen in 1957. 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 Campus since 2002.
Thomas Südhof
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, currently a professor at
Stanford University
Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, worked on his doctoral thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in the lab of British biochemist Victor P. Whittaker and received his PhD in medical science from the University of Göttingen in 1982.
Thomas Arthur Steitz was a Macy Fellow at the University of Göttingen during 1976–1977.
Today, a number of judges in national and international courts of the highest level are still affiliated with the
Faculty of Law
A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...
. As of 2021, four out of sixteen in-office Justices of the
Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court ( ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inception with the beginning of the post-W ...
(; abbreviated: '), Germany's
supreme constitutional court
A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
, are affiliated with the University of Göttingen: two of them (
Andreas Paulus & Christine Langenfeld) are, currently, professors at the Faculty of Law of the University of Göttingen, while two others (Ines Härtel & Henning Radtke) obtained their PhD in law (Dr.iur) from the University of Göttingen. Also in 2021,
Georg Nolte, a former professor of public international law at the University of Göttingen, took office as
Judge of the International Court of Justice on behalf of the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen constituent states have a total population of over 84 ...
.
Hsu Tzong-li, a Taiwanese judge who has served as the President of the
Judicial Yuan
The Judicial Yuan () is the Judiciary, judicial branch of the Republic of China.''See'' Constitution arts. 77-82, ''available at'' ''See'' Additional Articles of the Constitution art. 5, ''available at'' It functions as the Constitutional Cour ...
(Taiwan's constitutional court) since 2016, earned his doctorate in law from University of Göttingen in 1986.
Partner institutions
Within the
Göttingen Campus the university is organizationally and personally interlinked with the following independent and semi-independent institutions:
*
Bernstein Network Computational Neuroscience
* European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen (ENI-G)
* Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (ITMP)
* Application Center for Plasma and Photonics of the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IS
*
German Aerospace Center
The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...
*
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) – Helmholtz Centre
*
German Primate Center – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research
*
Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, formerly Max Planck Institute for Flow Research
*
Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, a 2022 merger of formerly
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and formerly
Max Planck Institute for Experimental Medicine
*
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
The Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (abbreviation: MPS; ) is a research institute in astronomy and astrophysics located in Göttingen, Germany, where it relocated in February 2014 from the nearby village of Lindau (Katlenburg-Lindau ...
, formerly
Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy
*
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, formerly
Max Planck Institute for History
Exchange programs

As Germany is a member of the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, 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
Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...
,
Peking University
Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...
and
Fudan University
Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...
in China,
Kyoto University
, or , is a National university, national research university in Kyoto, Japan. Founded in 1897, it is one of the former Imperial Universities and the second oldest university in Japan.
The university has ten undergraduate faculties, eighteen gra ...
and
Waseda University
Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...
in Japan and
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
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): (''There is no life outside Göttingen. Even if it is life, it is no life like here'').
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
Apart from those celebrities mentioned above, notable people that have studied or taught at Georg-August University include the American banker
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan Sr. (April 17, 1837 – March 31, 1913) was an American financier and investment banker who dominated corporate finance on Wall Street throughout the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. As the head of the banking firm that ...
, the seismologist
Beno Gutenberg
Beno Gutenberg (; June 4, 1889 – January 25, 1960) was a German-American seismologist who made several important contributions to the science. He was a colleague and mentor of Charles Francis Richter at the California Institute of Technolo ...
, the endocrinologist
Hakaru Hashimoto, who studied there before
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, and several notable
Nobel laureates
The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
like
Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (; ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quantum, quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial con ...
and
Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg (; ; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II.
He pub ...
. Anthropologist
Marlina Flassy earned her doctorate in Göttingen, before becoming the first woman and indigenous Papuan to be appointed Dean at
Cenderawasih University
Cenderawasih University () is a university in Jayapura, Papua province, Indonesia. The university is the leading educational institution in the province.
The university has faculties in economics, law, teacher training and education, medical, ...
. The German inventor of the jet engine,
Pabst von Ohain, also studied aerodynamics under
Ludwig Prandtl
Ludwig Prandtl (4 February 1875 – 15 August 1953) was a German Fluid mechanics, fluid dynamicist, physicist and aerospace scientist. He was a pioneer in the development of rigorous systematic mathematical analyses which he used for underlyin ...
. Professor Gunther Heinrich von Berg (Doctor of Law), taught at the University of Göttingen between 1794 and 1800 before he entered politics.
Carl Friedrich Gauss.jpg, Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, Geodesy, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observat ...
, "Prince of Mathematicians"
Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann.jpeg, Bernhard Riemann, Mathematician
Felix Klein.jpeg, Felix Klein
Felix Christian Klein (; ; 25 April 1849 – 22 June 1925) was a German mathematician and Mathematics education, mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and the associations betwe ...
, Mathematician
Hilbert.jpg, David Hilbert
David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time.
Hilbert discovered and developed a broad range of fundamental idea ...
, Mathematician
De Raum zeit Minkowski Bild (cropped).jpg, Hermann Minkowski, Mathematician, one of Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
's teachers
Max Born.jpg, Max Born
Max Born (; 11 December 1882 – 5 January 1970) was a German-British theoretical physicist who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics, and supervised the work of a ...
, Physicist, 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics
Bundesarchiv Bild183-R57262, Werner Heisenberg.jpg, Werner Heisenberg
Werner Karl Heisenberg (; ; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II.
He pub ...
, Physicist, 1932 Nobel Prize in Physics
JROppenheimer-LosAlamos.jpg, Robert Oppenheimer, Physicist, "Father of the atomic bomb"
Niels Bohr.jpg, Niels Bohr, Physicist, 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics
Max Planck by Hugo Erfurth 1938cr - restoration1.jpg, Max Planck
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck (; ; 23 April 1858 – 4 October 1947) was a German Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quantum, quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Planck made many substantial con ...
, Physicist, 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics
Stefan W Hell.jpg, Stefan Hell, Physicist, 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Erwin Neher in Szeged (cropped).jpg, Erwin Neher, Biophysicist, 1991 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Carol Greider by Chris Michel 1s946948-11-23.jpg, Carol W. Greider, Biochemist, 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Thomas c südhof.jpg, Thomas Südhof
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, Molecular biologist, 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Arthur_Schopenhauer_by_J_Schäfer,_1859b.jpg, Arthur Schopenhauer
Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the Phenomenon, phenomenal world as ...
, Philosopher
File:Max Weber, 1918.jpg, Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
, Sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economist
Habermas10 (14298469242).jpg, Jürgen Habermas
Jürgen Habermas ( , ; ; born 18 June 1929) is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.
Associated with the Frankfurt S ...
, Philosopher and social theorist
File:Grimm.jpg, Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
, writers and storytellers of folktales
Heinrich Heine-Oppenheim.jpg, Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...
, Poet, writer and literary critic
Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) - Charles William, Baron von Humboldt (1767-1835) - RCIN 404936 - Royal Collection.jpg, Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a German philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named aft ...
, Founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin
RudolfvonIhering2.jpg, Rudolf von Jhering
Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering (; also Ihering; 22 August 1818 – 17 September 1892) was a German jurist. He is best known for his 1872 book ''Der Kampf ums Recht'' (''The Struggle for Law''), as a legal scholar, and as the founder of a mo ...
, Jurist
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-2005-0057, Otto von Bismarck (cropped).jpg, Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
, "Iron Chancellor" of the German Empire
Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1991-039-11, Richard v. Weizsäcker.jpg, Richard von Weizsäcker, Former President of Germany
Karin Kneissl und Gerhard Schröder (cropped).jpg, Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German former politician and Lobbying, lobbyist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (S ...
, Former Chancellor of Germany
Official Portrait of Ursula von der Leyen (cropped 3).jpg, Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; ; born 8 October 1958) is a German politician, serving as president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding position ...
, President of the European Commission
See also
* Göttinger Digitalisierungszentrum
* List of early modern universities in Europe
* List of universities in Germany
* List of forestry universities and colleges
References
Further reading
* Iggers, Georg G. ''The University of Göttingen, 1760–1800, and the Transformation of Historical Scholarship'' (Council on International Studies, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1980).
* Iggers, Georg G. "The University of Göttingen, 1760–1800, and the Transformation of Historical Scholarship" ''Storia della Storiografia'' (1982), Issue 2, pp 11–37.
* Constance Reid, ''Hilbert'', Springer Science and Business Media, Springer, 1996, .
External links
The University of Göttingen– home page
Shame at Göttingen, detailing the 1933 purge
Scholars and Literati at the University of Göttingen (1603–1800)Repertorium Eruditorum Totius Europae – RETE
{{DEFAULTSORT:University Of Gottingen
University of Göttingen,
1734 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Educational institutions established in 1734, Gottingen
Universities and colleges established in the 18th century, Gottingen