Tübingen (, ,
Swabian
Swabian or Schwabian, or ''variation'', may refer to:
* the German region of Swabia (German: "''Schwaben''")
* Swabian German, a dialect spoken in Baden-Württemberg in south-west Germany and adjoining areas (German:"''Schwäbisch''")
* Danube S ...
: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional
university city in central
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
,
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 betwee ...
. It is situated south of the state capital,
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
, and developed on both sides of the
Neckar
The Neckar () is a river in Germany, mainly flowing through the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, with a short section through Hesse. The Neckar is a major right tributary of the Rhine. Rising in the Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis near Schwen ...
and
Ammer rivers. about one in three of the 90,000 people
living in Tübingen is a student. As of the 2018/2019 winter semester, 27,665 students attend the
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar.
People
First name
* Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire
* Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian
*Eberhard I, ...
.
[ The city has the lowest median age in Germany, in part due to its status as a university city. As of December 31, 2015, the average age of a citizen of Tübingen is 39.1 years.][ The city is known for its veganism and ]environmentalism
Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment (biophysical), environment, par ...
.
Immediately north of the city lies the Schönbuch, a densely wooded nature park
A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscape ...
. The Swabian Alb
The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...
mountains rise about (beeline Tübingen City to Roßberg - 869 m) to the southeast of Tübingen.
The Ammer and Steinlach rivers are tributaries of the Neckar river, which flows in an easterly direction through the city, just south of the medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
old town
In a city or town, the old town is its historic or original core. Although the city is usually larger in its present form, many cities have redesignated this part of the city to commemorate its origins after thorough renovations. There are ma ...
. Large parts of the city are hilly, with the Schlossberg and the Österberg in the city centre and the Schnarrenberg and Herrlesberg, among others, rising immediately adjacent to the inner city.
The highest point is at about above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
Th ...
near Bebenhausen
Bebenhausen is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of the c ...
in the Schönbuch forest, while the lowest point is in the city's eastern Neckar valley. The geographical centre of the state of Baden-Württemberg is in a small forest called Elysium, near the Botanical Gardens of the city's university.
Regional structure
Tübingen is the capital of an eponymous district and an eponymous administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk''), before 1973 called ''Südwürttemberg-Hohenzollern''.
Tübingen is, with nearby Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
(about east), one of the two centre cities of the Neckar-Alb region.
Administratively, it is not part of the Stuttgart Region, bordering it to the north and west ( Böblingen district). However, the city and northern parts of its district can be regarded as belonging to that region in a wider regional and cultural context.
History
The area was probably first settled by ancient humans in the 12th millennium BC. The Romans left some traces here in AD 85, when they built a limes frontier wall at the Neckar River. Tübingen dates from the 6th or 7th century, when the region was populated by the Alamanni
The Alemanni or Alamanni, were a confederation of Germanic tribes
*
*
*
on the Upper Rhine River. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Caracalla of 213, the Alemanni captured the in 260, and later expanded into pre ...
people. Some historians argue that the Battle of Solicinium
The Battle of Solicinium was fought in 368 between a Roman army and the Alemanni. The Roman force was led by Emperor Valentinian I, and they managed to repel the Alemanni but suffered heavy losses during the battle.
Background
After the death ...
was fought at Spitzberg, a mountain in Tübingen, in AD 367, although there is no evidence for this.
Tübingen first appears in official records in 1191. The local castle, ''Hohentübingen'', has records going back to 1078, when it was besieged by Henry IV, king of Germany. Its name was transcribed in Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
as and .
From 1146, Count Hugo V (1125–52) was promoted to count palatine
A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...
as Hugo I. Tübingen was established as the capital of a County Palatine of Tübingen. By 1231, Tübingen was a ''civitas'', indicating recognition by the Crown of civil liberties and a court system.
In 1262, an Augustinian monastery was established by Pope Alexander IV
Pope Alexander IV (1199 or 1185 – 25 May 1261) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death in 1261.
Early career
He was born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne (now in the Province of Rome), he ...
in Tübingen; in 1272, a Franciscan monastery was founded. In 1300, a Latin school (today's Uhland-Gymnasium) was founded. During the Protestant Reformation, which Duke Ulrich of Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Württ ...
converted to, he disestablished the Franciscan monastery in 1535.
In 1342, the county palatine was sold to Ulrich III, Count of Württemberg
Ulrich III (after 1286 – 11 July 1344) Count of Württemberg from 1325 until 1344.
Career
Ulrich was already strongly involved in politics during the reign of his father Eberhard I. In 1319 he handled a treaty with King Frederick I, the ...
and incorporated into the County of Württemberg.
Between 1470 and 1483, St. George's Collegiate Church was built. The collegiate church offices provided the opportunity for what soon afterwards became the most significant event in Tübingen's history: the founding of the Eberhard Karls University by Duke Eberhard im Bart of Württemberg in 1477, thus making it one of the oldest universities in Central Europe. It became soon renowned as one of the most influential places of learning in the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
, especially for theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...
(a Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
faculty, Tübinger Stift, was established in 1535 in the former Augustinian monastery). Today, the university is still the biggest source of income for the residents of the city and one of the biggest universities 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 betwee ...
with more than 26,000 students.
Between 1622 and 1625, the Catholic League occupied Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
Württemberg in the course of the Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of batt ...
. In the summer of 1631, the city was raided. In 1635/36 the city was hit by the Plague
Plague or The Plague may refer to:
Agriculture, fauna, and medicine
*Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis''
* An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural)
* A pandemic caused by such a disease
* A swarm of pes ...
. In 1638, Swedish troops conquered Tübingen. Towards the end of the war, French troops occupied the city from 1647 until 1649.
In 1789, parts of the old town burned down, but were later rebuilt in the original style. In 1798 the ''Allgemeine Zeitung
The ''Allgemeine Zeitung'' was the leading political daily journal in Germany in the first part of the 19th century. It has been widely recognised as the first world-class German journal and a symbol of the German press abroad.
The ''Allgemein ...
'', a leading newspaper in early 19th-century Germany, was founded in Tübingen by Johann Friedrich Cotta
Johann Friedrich, Freiherr Cotta von Cottendorf (April 27, 1764 – December 29, 1832) was a German publisher, industrial pioneer and politician.
Ancestors
Cotta is the name of a family of German publishers, intimately connected with the his ...
. From 1807 until 1843, the poet Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...
lived in Tübingen in a tower overlooking the Neckar.
In the Nazi era, the Tübingen Synagogue was burned in the Kristallnacht on November 9, 1938. The Second World War left the city largely unscathed, mainly because of the peace initiative of a local doctor, Theodor Dobler. It was occupied by the French army and became part of the French zone of occupation. From 1946 to 1952, Tübingen was the capital of the newly formed state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern (as french: Tubingue), before the state of Baden-Württemberg was created by merging Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
, Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern. The French troops had a garrison stationed in the south of the city until the end of 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 t ...
in the 1990s.
In the 1960s, Tübingen was one of the centres of the German student movement
The West German student movement or sometimes called the 1968 movement in West Germany was a social movement that consisted of mass student protests in West Germany in 1968; participants in the movement would later come to be known as 68ers. Th ...
and the Protests of 1968
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies.
In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...
and has ever since shaped left
Left may refer to:
Music
* ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006
* ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016
* "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996
Direction
* Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right
* ...
and green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...
political views. Some radicalized Tübingen students supported the leftist Rote Armee Fraktion terrorist group, with active member Gudrun Ensslin, a local and a Tübingen student from 1960 to 1963, joining the group in 1968.
Although noticing such things today is largely impossible, as recently as the 1950s, Tübingen was a very socioeconomically divided city, with poor local farmers and tradesmen living along the ''Stadtgraben'' (City Canal) and students and academics residing around the ''Alte Aula'' and the ''Burse'', the old university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
buildings. There, hanging on the ''Cottahaus'', a sign commemorates Goethe's stay of a few weeks while visiting his publisher. The German tendency to memorialize every minor presence of its historical greats (comparable to the statement "Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
slept here" in the United States) is parodied on the building next door. This simple building, once a dormitory, features a plain sign with the words ''"Hier kotzte Goethe"'' (lit.: "Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...
puked here").
In the second half of the 20th century, Tübingen's administrative area was extended beyond what is now called the "core city" to include several outlying small towns and villages. Most notable among these is Bebenhausen
Bebenhausen is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of the c ...
, a village clustered around a castle and Bebenhausen Abbey, a Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...
cloister
A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against ...
about north of Tübingen.
Overview
, the city had 90.000 inhabitants. Life in the city is dominated by its roughly 28.000 students. Tübingen is best described as a mixture of old and distinguished academic flair, including liberal and green politics
Green politics, or ecopolitics, is a political ideology that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society often, but not always, rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy. Wall 2010. p. 12-13. It be ...
on one hand and traditional German-style student fraternities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept grad ...
on the other, with rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are de ...
-agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...
environs and shaped by typical Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...
- Pietist characteristics, such as austerity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
and a Protestant work ethic
The Protestant work ethic, also known as the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic, is a work ethic concept in theology, sociology, economics and history which emphasizes that diligence, discipline, and frugality are a result of a per ...
, and traditional Swabia
Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany.
The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...
n elements, such as frugality, order
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
* Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of ...
, and tidiness. The city is home to many picturesque buildings from previous centuries and lies on the River Neckar.
, the German weekly magazine ''Focus'' published a national survey according to which Tübingen had the highest quality of life of all cities in Germany. Factors taken into consideration included the infrastructure, the integration of bicycle lanes into the road system, a bus system connecting surrounding hills and valleys, late-night services, areas of the city that can be reached on foot, the pedestrianised old town, and other amenities and cultural events offered by the university. Tübingen is the city with the youngest average population in Germany.
Main sights
In central Tübingen, the Neckar divides briefly into two streams, forming the elongated '' Neckarinsel'' (Neckar Island), famous for its ''Platanenallee'' with high plane trees, which are around 200 years old. Pedestrians can reach the island via stairs on the narrow ends leading down from a bridge spanning the Neckar. During the summer, the ''Neckarinsel'' is occasionally the venue for concerts, plays, and literary readings. The row of historical houses across one side of the elongated ''Neckarinsel'' is called the '' Neckarfront'' and includes the house with adjoining tower where poet Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...
stayed for the last 36 years of his life, as he struggled with mental instability.
Tübingen's ''Altstadt'' (old town) survived the World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
due to the city's lack of heavy industry. The result is a growing domestic tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
business as visitors come to wander through one of the few completely intact historic ''Altstädte'' in Germany. The highlights of Tübingen include its crooked cobblestone lanes, narrow-stair alleyways picking their way through the hilly terrain, streets lined with canals, and well-maintained traditional half-timbered
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large woode ...
houses.
Old city landmarks include the city hall on Markt Square and the Hohentübingen Castle, now part of the University of Tübingen. The central landmark is the ''Stiftskirche In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by ...
'' (Collegiate Church). Along with the rest of the city, the Stiftskirche was one of the first to convert to Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...
's protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
church. As such, it maintains (and carefully defends) several "Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
" features, such as patron saints
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person.
I ...
. Below the ''Rathaus'' is a quiet, residential street called the ''Judengasse'', the former Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
neighborhood of Tübingen until the city's Jews were expelled in 1477. On the street corner is a plaque commemorating the fate of Tübingen's Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
The centre of Tübingen is the site of weekly and seasonal events, including regular market days on the ''Holzmarkt'' by the Stiftskirche and the ''Marktplatz'' by the Rathaus, an outdoor cinema in winter and summer, festive autumn and Christmas markets and (formerly) Europe's largest Afro-Brazilian festival.
Students and tourists also come to the Neckar River in the summer to visit beer gardens or go boating in ''Stocherkähne'', the Tübingen equivalent of Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
punts, only slimmer. A ''Stocherkahn'' carries up to 20 people. On the second Thursday of June, all ''Stocherkahn'' punts take part in a major race, the '' Stocherkahnrennen''.
Bebenhausen Abbey lies in the village of Bebenhausen, a district of Tübingen. A subdivision of the pilgrimage route known as the Way of St. James starts here and runs through Tübingen.
Culture
Tübingen has a notable arts culture as well as nightlife. In addition to the full roster of official and unofficial university events that range from presentations by the university's official poet in residence to parties hosted by the student associations of each faculty, the city can boast of several choirs, theatre companies and nightclubs. Also, Tübingen's ''Kunsthalle
A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection.
In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...
'' (art exhibition hall), on the "Wanne", houses two or three exhibits of international note each year.
Events
There are several festivals, open air markets and other events on a regular basis:
* January
** Arab Movie Festival ''Arabisches Filmfestival''
* April
** Latin American Movie Festival ''CineLatino'' (usually in April or May)
* May
** ''Internationales Pianisten-Festival'' (international festival of pianists)
** Rock Festival ''Rock im Tunnel'' (usually in May or June)
* June
** Poled boat race (german: Stocherkahnrennen), second Thursday of June, 2pm, around the Neckar Island
** ''Ract!festival'', an alternative open air festival for free with music performances and workshops
** ''Tübinger Wassermusik'': concerts on ''Stocherkahn'' boats
* July
** ''Stadtfest'': gastronomy and performances in the streets of the old town
** ''Tübinger Sommerinsel'' festival: various restaurants serving special meals and associations offering activities on the Neckar Island
* August
** ''Tübinger Orgelsommer'': organ concerts in the Stiftskirche
** ''Sommerkonzerte'' in the former monastery of Bebenhausen
Bebenhausen is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of the c ...
(July-September)
** ''Kennen Sie Tübingen?'' (Do you know Tübingen?): special guided tours on Mondays July-September
* September
** ''Vielklang'': classic music concerts at several locations
** ''Umbrisch-Provenzalischer Markt'', open air market for Italian and French products from Umbria and Provence
** ''Tübinger Stadtlauf'' the city 10km race
** ''Retromotor'' oldtimer festival (usually second or third September weekend)
* October
** ''Jazz- und Klassiktage'': jazz and classic music festival
** Kite festival ''Drachenfest'' on the Österberg hill (usually third Sunday in October)
** French movie festival ''Französische Filmtage''
* November
** Terre de femmes movie festival ''FrauenWelten''
*December
** ''Nikolauslauf'' half marathon outside Tübingen in the forest
** ''Die Feuerzangenbowle
''Die Feuerzangenbowle'' (''The Fire Tongs Bowl'', ''The Punch Bowl'') is a German novel, later adapted into several films, which tells the story of a famous writer going undercover as a pupil at a small town gymnasium after his friends tell him ...
'' film and large amount of Feuerzangenbowle
' () () is a traditional German alcoholic drink for which a rum-soaked sugarloaf is set on fire and drips into mulled wine. It is often part of a Christmas or New Year's Eve tradition. The name translates literally as ''fire-tongs punch'', “ ...
drink made in a public square
** Chocolate festival '' chocolART''
** Christmas market
Districts
Tübingen is divided into 22 districts, the city core of twelve districts (population of about 51,000) and ten outer districts (suburbs) (population of about 31,000):
Core city districts:
* Französisches Viertel
* Österberg
* Schönblick/Winkelwiese
* Lustnau
* Südstadt
* Universität
* Waldhäuser Ost
* Wanne
* Weststadt
* Zentrum
Outer districts:
* Ammerbuch
Ammerbuch is a municipality in the district of Tübingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 7 km northwest of Tübingen.
Geographical location
The municipality Ammerbuch is 345–551 meters above sea level in part on the edge o ...
* Bebenhausen
Bebenhausen is a village (pop. 347) in the Tübingen district, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Since 1974 it is a district of the city of Tübingen, its least populous one. It is located 3 km north of Tübingen proper (about 5 km northeast of the c ...
* Bühl
* Derendingen
* Hagelloch
* Hirschau
* Kilchberg
* Pfrondorf
Pfrondorf is part of the city of Tübingen and the district of Tübingen within the state of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which ...
* Unterjesingen
* Weilheim, Baden-Württemberg
Population
Population development
Since World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Tübingen's population has almost doubled from about 45,000 to the current 88,000, also due to the incorporation of formerly independent villages into the city in the 1970s.
Currently, Lord Mayor Boris Palmer (Green Party) has set the ambitious goal of increasing the population of Tübingen to 100,000 within the next several years. To achieve this, the city is closing gaps between buildings within the city proper by allowing new houses to be built there; this is also to counter the tendency of urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
and land consumption that has been endangering the preservation of rural landscapes of Southern Germany
Historical population
Climate
Twin towns – sister cities
Tübingen is Sister city, twinned with:
* Monthey, Switzerland (1959)
* Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille ...
, France (1960)
* Kingersheim, France (1963)
* Ann Arbor
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
, United States (1965)
* Durham, England, UK (1969)
* Aigle
, neighboring_municipalities= Vaud: Yvorne, Leysin, Ormont-Dessous, Ollon; Valais: Vouvry, Collombey-Muraz
, twintowns = L'Aigle (France), Tübingen (Germany), Bassersdorf (Switzerland)
}
Aigle (French for " eagle", ; frp, Âgllo) is ...
, Switzerland (1973)
* Kilchberg, Switzerland (1981)
* Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part ...
, Italy (1984)
* Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk (russian: Петрозаводск, p=pʲɪtrəzɐˈvotsk; Karelian, Vepsian and fi, Petroskoi) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population ...
, Russia (1989)
* Villa El Salvador, Peru (2006)
* Moshi, Tanzania (2014)
For their commitment to their international partnership, the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...
awarded the Europe Prize to Tübingen and Aix-en-Provence in 1965. The city's dedication to a European understanding is also reflected in the naming of several streets and squares, including the large ''Europaplatz'' (Europe Square) outside the railway station.
Infrastructure
By plane: Tübingen is about from the Baden-Württemberg state airport (''Landesflughafen Stuttgart'', also called Stuttgart Airport
Stuttgart Airport (German: ''Flughafen Stuttgart'', formerly ''Flughafen Stuttgart-Echterdingen'') is the international airport of Stuttgart, the capital of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is christened in honor of Stuttgart's for ...
).
By automobile: Tübingen is on the '' Bundesstraße 27'' (a "federal road") that crosses through Baden-Württemberg, connecting the city with Würzburg
Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River.
Würzburg ...
, Heilbronn
Heilbronn () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, surrounded by Heilbronn District. With over 126,000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state.
From the late Middle Ages, it developed into an important trading centre. A ...
, Stuttgart and the ''Landesflughafen'' (Stuttgart Airport
Stuttgart Airport (German: ''Flughafen Stuttgart'', formerly ''Flughafen Stuttgart-Echterdingen'') is the international airport of Stuttgart, the capital of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is christened in honor of Stuttgart's for ...
) to the north and Rottweil
Rottweil (; Alemannic: ''Rautweil'') is a town in southwest Germany in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Rottweil was a free imperial city for nearly 600 years.
Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alps, Rottweil has nearly 25,00 ...
and Donaueschingen
Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar '' Kreis''. It stands near the confluence of the two sources of the river D ...
to the south.
By rail: Tübingen Hauptbahnhof is on the regional train line Neckar-Alb Railway
Neckar-Alb is one of three regions (''Regionalverband'') in the Tübingen administrative region (''Regierungsbezirke'') in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest German ...
-Bahn (''Neckar-Alb-Bahn'') from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof
Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (; en, Stuttgart central station) is the primary railway station in the city of Stuttgart, the state capital of Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany. It is the largest regional and long-distance railway station in ...
via Esslingen and Reutlingen to Tübingen. The average time of travel to Stuttgart is 1:01 hrs., with some trains taking only 45 mins. Other regional lines are the '' Hohenzollerische Landesbahn'', connecting the city with Hechingen
Hechingen ( Swabian: ''Hächenga'') is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border.
Geography
The town lies at the foot of t ...
and Sigmaringen
Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district.
Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaring ...
(so-called Zollernalb Railway), '' Zollernalbbahn'' and connections to Herrenberg ( Ammer Valley Railway, ''Ammertalbahn'') and Horb
Horb am Neckar is a town in the southwest of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river, between Offenburg to the west (about away) and Tübingen to the east (about away). It has around 25,000 inhabitants, of wh ...
( Upper Neckar Railway, ''Obere Neckarbahn''). Since 2009, there is also a daily direct Intercity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
link to Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
, Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
and Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...
as well as to Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
.
Local public transport: The city, due to its high student population, features an extensive public bus network with more than 20 lines connecting the city districts and places outside of Tübingen such as Ammerbuch
Ammerbuch is a municipality in the district of Tübingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 7 km northwest of Tübingen.
Geographical location
The municipality Ammerbuch is 345–551 meters above sea level in part on the edge o ...
, Gomaringen
Gomaringen is a municipality located about 10 km south of Tübingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
Geography
Geographical Position
Gomaringen is located in the valley of the stream Wiesaz, a tributary of the Steinlach, which i ...
and Nagold. There are also several night bus lines in the early hours every day. A direct bus is available to Stuttgart Airport (via Leinfelden-Echterdingen
Leinfelden-Echterdingen ( Swabian: ''Laefälda-Ächdordeng'') is a town in the district of Esslingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located approximately 10 km south of Stuttgart, near the Stuttgart Airport and directly adjacent t ...
) as well as to Böblingen
Böblingen (; Swabian: ''Beblenga'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen District. Sindelfingen and Böblingen are contiguous.
History
Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Böblingen in 1253. Würt ...
and Reutlingen
Reutlingen (; Swabian: ''Reitlenga'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of June 2018, it has a population of 115,818.
Reutlingen has a university of applied sciences, which ...
.
Sport
Tigers Tübingen
Tigers Tübingen is a basketball team from Tübingen, a college town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany, playing in the ProA, the country's second tier league.
Founded as SV 03 Tübingen, is affiliated with the multi-sports club SV 03 Tübing ...
are the city's only professional sports team, playing basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
.
Education
Higher education and research
The Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen Eberhard is an old Germanic name meaning the strength or courage of a wild boar.
People
First name
* Eberhard of Friuli (815–866), Duke and key figure in the Carolingian Empire
* Eberhard of Béthune (died 1212), Flemish grammarian
*Eberhard I, ...
dates from 1477, making it one of the oldest in Germany. Including the university hospitals, it is also the city's largest employer. The town is also host to several research institutes including the Max Planck Institutes for Biological Cybernetics Biocybernetics is the application of cybernetics to biological science disciplines such as neurology and multicellular systems. Biocybernetics plays a major role in systems biology, seeking to integrate different levels of information to understand ...
, Developmental Biology
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and differentiation of st ...
, Intelligent Systems, The Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the MPG (and formerly the Max Planck Institute for Biology), the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience
The Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) is the common platform for systems neuroscience at the University of Tübingen in Germany. It was installed as a cluster of excellence within the framework of the Excellence Initiati ...
and many others. A modern technology park is growing in the northern part of the city, where science, industrial companies and start-ups are conducting joint research, primarily on biotechnology and artificial intelligence. The university also maintains an excellent botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
, the Botanischer Garten der Universität Tübingen
The Botanischer Garten der Universität Tübingen, also known as the Botanischer Garten Tübingen or the Neuer Botanischer Garten Tübingen, is a botanical garden and arboretum maintained by the University of Tübingen. It is located at Hartmeye ...
. Furthermore, there is a Protestant College of Church Music.
Schools
More than 10,000 children and young adults in Tübingen regularly attend school. There are 30 schools in the city, some of which consist of more than one type of school. Of these, 17 are primary schools while the others are for secondary education
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...
: four schools are of the lowest rank, ''Hauptschule
A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
'', three of the middle rank, '' Realschule'', and six are '' Gymnasien'' (grammar schools). There also are four vocational school
A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the task ...
s ('' Berufsschule'') and three special needs schools.
Primary schools
* Freie Aktive Schule Tübingen
* Grundschule Innenstadt / Silcherschule
* Grundschule Weilheim
* Ludwig-Krapf-Schule
* Grundschule Hügelstraße
* Französische Schule
* Dorfackerschule Lustnau
* Grundschule Hirschau
* Grundschule Hechinger Eck
* Grundschule auf der Wanne
* Grundschule Aischbach
Grundschule Winkelwiese / Waldhäuser Ost
* Grundschule Bühl
* Grundschule Bühl
* Grundschule Kilchberg
* Grundschule Hagelloch
* Grundschule Pfrondorf
* Grundschule Unterjesingen
''Hauptschulen''
* Dorfackerschule Lustnau
* Mörikeschule
* Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
* Hauptschule Innenstadt
''Realschulen''
* Walter-Erbe-Realschule
* Albert-Schweitzer-Realschule
* Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
''Gymnasien''
* Carlo-Schmid-Gymnasium
* Geschwister-Scholl-Schule
* Kepler-Gymnasium
* Uhland-Gymnasium
* Wildermuth-Gymnasium
* Freie Waldorfschule
Vocational schools (''Berufsschulen'')
* Gewerbliche Schule
* Wilhelm-Schickard-Schule
* Mathilde-Weber-Schule
* Bildungs- und Technologiezentrum
Notable people
*Primož Trubar
Primož Trubar or Primus Truber () (1508 – 28 June 1586) was a Slovene Protestant Reformer of the Lutheran tradition, mostly known as the author of the first Slovene language printed book, the founder and the first superintendent of the Prot ...
(1508–1586), Protestant Reformer of the Lutheran tradition, lived and died here
* Christopher Besoldus (1577–1638), lawyer and publicist
* Johann Georg Gmelin (1709–1755), naturalist and botanist, explorer of Siberia
* Philipp Friedrich Gmelin (1721–1768), botanist and chemist
*Johann Friedrich Cotta
Johann Friedrich, Freiherr Cotta von Cottendorf (April 27, 1764 – December 29, 1832) was a German publisher, industrial pioneer and politician.
Ancestors
Cotta is the name of a family of German publishers, intimately connected with the his ...
(1764–1832), publisher of many important writers of his time such as Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...
and Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
, industrial pioneer and politician
* Ferdinand Gottlieb von Gmelin (1782–1848), physician
* Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862), poet and philologist, lawyer and politician, lived and died here
* Friedrich Silcher (1789–1860), composer, lived and died here
* Christian Gottlob Gmelin (1792–1860), chemist
*Hermann Hesse
Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include '' Demian'', '' Steppenwolf'', '' Siddhartha'', and '' The Glass Bead Game'', each of which explores an individual ...
(1877–1962), poet, novelist and painter, worked here as a bookseller trainee in 1895–1899, later Nobel laureate for literature
* Ernst Fritz Schmid (1904–1960), musicologist and Mozart scholar
* Geoffrey Elton (1921–1994), political and historian
*Felicia Langer
Felicia Langer (9 December 1930 – 21 June 2018) was a German-Israeli attorney and human rights activist known for her defence of Palestinian political prisoners in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She authored several books alleging human rights ...
(1930–2018), attorney and human rights activist, lived and died here
*Helmut Haussmann
Helmut Haussmann (born 18 May 1943) is a German academic and politician. He served as minister of economy from 1988 to 1991.
Early life and education
Haussmann was born in Tübingen on 18 May 1943. He holds a degree in economics and social scien ...
(born 1943), academic and politician
* Hans-Peter Uhl (1944–2019), politician
* Hartmut Zinser (born 1944), scholar and religionist
*Eva Haule
Eva Sybille Haule-Frimpong (born 16 July 1954) is a former terrorist associated with the third generation Red Army Faction (RAF). She took her abitur in Stuttgart before going underground in 1984.
Terrorist activities
*On 5 November 1984, Haule r ...
(born 1954), former leftist terrorist
* Dieter Baumann (born 1965), track and field athlete, Olympic winner, lives here
*Sigi Schmid
Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American soccer coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his fa ...
(1953–2018), football coach
* Vera Wülfing-Leckie (1954–2021), homeopath and translator
*Matthias Untermann
Matthias Untermann (born 19 September 1956) is a German art historian and medieval archaeologist.
Life
Born in Tübingen, Untermann, son of the Indo-Germanist Jürgen Untermann, studied art history, classical archaeology and medieval histor ...
(born 1956), art historian and archaeologist
* Viola Vogel (born 1959), biophysicist and bioengineer
* Michael Theurer (born 1967), politician
* Despina Vandi (born 1969), singer
*Clemens Schick
Clemens Schick (born 15 February 1972) is a German actor, model, political activist and human rights advocate.
He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1998, including leading roles in both German and international productions. He has ap ...
(born 1972), actor
*Boris Palmer
Boris Erasmus Palmer (born 28 May 1972) is a German politician and former member of the Green Party. He has been mayor of Tübingen since January 2007. From March 2001 to May 2007, he was a member of the Baden-Württemberg Landtag, the State pa ...
(born 1972), current Lord Mayor
*Benjamin Heisenberg
Benjamin Heisenberg (born 9 June 1974) is a German film director and screenwriter. He has directed sixteen films since 1995. His film '' Schläfer'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. His 2010 film, '' ...
(born 1974), film director and screenwriter
*Sung Yu-ri
Sung Yu-ri (born March 3, 1981) is a South Korean actress and singer. She made her entertainment debut in 1998 as a member of the now-defunct K-pop group Fin.K.L. Sung turned to acting in 2002, starring in television dramas such as ''Thousand ...
(born 1981), actress
*Thilo Kehrer
Jan Thilo Kehrer (; born 21 September 1996) is a German professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club West Ham United and the Germany national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play in either full-back position. ...
(born 1996), football player (national team)
* Amelie Berger (born 1999), handball player (national team)
Associated with the university
* Johann Reuchlin (1455–1522), Catholic humanist and scholar of Greek and Hebrew
*Philip Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon. (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the L ...
(1497–1560), Lutheran reformer
*Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws ...
(1571–1630), astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer
* Wilhelm Schickard (1592–1635), professor of Hebrew and astronomy, inventor of the world's first mechanical calculator in 1623, lived and died here
*Rudolf Jakob Camerarius
Rudolf Jakob Camerarius or Camerer (12 February 1665 – 11 September 1721) was a German botanist and physician.
Life
Camerarius was born at Tübingen, and became professor of medicine and director of the botanical gardens at Tübingen in 168 ...
(1655–1721), botanist and professor, proved for the first time the sexual reproduction of plants
*Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland (; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the epic ''Oberon'', which formed the ba ...
(1733–1813), classical writer of the Enlightenment
* J. G. Friedrich von Bohnenberger (1765–1835), pioneer of a modern geodesy, inventor of the gyroscope
*Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (; ; 27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a German philosopher. He is one of the most important figures in German idealism and one of the founding figures of modern Western philosophy. His influence extends ...
(1770–1831), philosopher of Idealism
*Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (, ; ; 20 March 1770 – 7 June 1843) was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Part ...
(1770–1843), poet and philosopher, lived and died here
*Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling
Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (; 27 January 1775 – 20 August 1854), later (after 1812) von Schelling, was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him b ...
(1775–1854), philosopher of Idealism
* Friedrich List (1789–1846), economist, university professor
* Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860), Protestant theologian, lived and died here
* Immanuel Hermann Fichte (1796–1879), philosopher, held a chair of philosophy at the university
* Wilhelm Hauff (1802–1827), writer of the early Romantic period
*Eduard Mörike
Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by ...
(1804–1875), Lutheran pastor, poet and writer of the Romantic period
* David Strauss (1808–1874), Protestant theologian and writer
* Georg Herwegh (1817–1875), poet, revolutionist
* Felix Hoppe-Seyler (1825–1895), principal founder of the disciplines of biochemistry and molecular biology, discoverer of the blood pigment hemoglobin
* Lothar Meyer (1830–1895), chemist, one of the founders of the periodic table of chemical elements alongside Dmitri Mendeleev
* Friedrich Miescher (1844–1895), physician and biologist, discoverer of the nucleic acid as a precondition for the identification of DNA
* Ferdinand Braun (1850–1918), inventor, professor, later Nobel laureate for physics
* Carl Correns (1864–1933), botanist and geneticist
*Alois Alzheimer
Alois Alzheimer ( , , ; 14 June 1864 – 19 December 1915) was a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist and a colleague of Emil Kraepelin. Alzheimer is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraep ...
(1864–1915), psychiatrist and neuropathologist
*Gerhard Anschütz
Gerhard Anschütz (10 January 1867 in Halle (Saale) – 14 April 1948 in Heidelberg) was a noted German teacher of constitutional law and the leading commentator of the Weimar Constitution. His principal work (with Richard Thoma) is the two ...
(1867–1948), jurisprudent
* Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965), theologian, writer, humanitarian, philosopher and physician, Nobel laureate for peace
* Ernst Bloch (1885–1977), philosopher, lived and died here
*Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Kurt Georg Kiesinger (; 6 April 1904 – 9 March 1988) was a German politician who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he served as Minister President of Baden-Württemberg ...
(1904–1988), politician, Chancellor of Germany, lived and died here
* Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), Lutheran theologian and pastor, anti-Nazi-dissident, studied here
*Hans Mayer
Hans Mayer (19 March 1907 in Cologne – 19 May 2001 in Tübingen; pseudonym: ''Martin Seiler'') was a German literary scholar. Mayer was also a jurist and social researcher and was internationally recognized as a critic, author and musicologi ...
(1907–2001), literary scholar and critic, lived and died here
*Walter Jens
Walter Jens (8 March 1923 – 9 June 2013) was a German philologist, literature historian, critic, university professor and writer.
He was born in Hamburg, and attended the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums from 1933 to 1941, when he gained his Ab ...
(1923–2013), philologist, writer and university professor of rhetoric, lived and died here
* Martin Walser (born 1927), writer, studied here
*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 sovereig ...
(born 1927), held a chair of dogmatic theology at the university
* Hans Küng (1928–2021), Roman-Catholic theologian and author, professor of theology, critic of the official church, creator of Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos), lived and died here
*Ralf Dahrendorf
Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf, Baron Dahrendorf, (1 May 1929 – 17 June 2009) was a German-British sociologist, philosopher, political scientist and liberal politician. A class conflict theorist, Dahrendorf was a leading expert on explaining and a ...
(1929–2009), held a chair of sociology
* Manfred Korfmann (1942–2005), archeologist and professor, excavator of ancient Troy
* Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (born 1942), developmental biologist and Nobel laureate, lives here
* Horst Köhler (born 1943), politician, President of Germany 2004–2010
See also
* Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut Tübingen
References
External links
*
Eberhard Karls University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tubingen
Former states and territories of Baden-Württemberg
Tübingen (district)
Württemberg
Populated places on the Neckar basin
Populated riverside places in Germany
Towns in Baden-Württemberg