Place
University of Göttingen
Overview
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (German: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, 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.
The University of Göttingen reached its academic peak from the late 19th to early 20th century, establishing itself as a major international center for mathematics and physics. During this period, scholars such as David Hilbert, Felix Klein, Max Born, and Ludwig Prandtl conducted influential research in mathematics, quantum mechanics, and aerodynamics. The university attracted international students, including prominent Americans such as Edward Everett, George Bancroft, John Lothrop Motley, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. This prominence was severely disrupted by the Nazi rise to power in 1933, when the "great purge" resulted in the dismissal or emigration of numerous faculty members, including many of Jewish origin or those opposed to the regime. The university was subsequently reopened under British control in 1945 and began a process of academic reconstruction.
Today, the University of Göttingen is a member of the U15 Group of major German research universities. 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 Leibniz Association, the Fraunhofer Society, and the Helmholtz Association. With its extensive collection, the Göttingen State and University Library stands among Germany's largest libraries.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Philosophers who discussed University of Göttingen
- Ernst Troeltsch
- Wilhelm Windelband
- Hans Reichenbach
- Jürgen Habermas
- Hermann Lotze
- Johann Friedrich Herbart
- Max Weber
- Alexandre Koyré
- Oswald Spengler
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Wilhelm von Humboldt
- Edith Stein
- Gottlob Frege
- Josiah Royce
- Carl Stumpf
- Nicolai Hartmann
- Rudolf Otto
- Eduard von Hartmann
- Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz
- Edmund Husserl
- Nae Ionescu
- Gottlob Ernst Schulze
- Roman Ingarden
- Gustav Teichmüller
Place in the tradition
Part of German philosophy.