The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating

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 ...

university in the world. It is now a public university of the state of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are ...

, without religious affiliation. The University of Marburg has about 23,500 students and 7,500 employees and is located in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...

, a town of 76,000 inhabitants, with university buildings dotted in or around the town centre. About 14 per cent of the students are international, the highest percentage in Hesse. It offers an International summer university programme and offers student exchanges through the Erasmus programme.

History

In 1609, the University of Marburg established the world's first professorship in chemistry. In 2012 it opened the first German interactive chemistry museum, called '. Its experimental course programme is aimed at encouraging young people to pursue careers in science. The university was among the first in Germany to offer courses in gender studies.

Nazi period

20 professors were expelled in 1933, among them economist who emigrated and linguist who committed suicide.

After 1945

Since the 1970s especially the Department of Social Sciences is regarded as a leftist stronghold, with being a major influence within the field of political science in post-war Germany.

Academics

Research

The university is significant for its life sciences research, but is also home to one of the few centers that conduct research on the middle east, the CNMS (center for near and middle eastern studies). The departments of psychology and geography reached Excellence Group status in the Europe-wide CHE Excellence Ranking 2009. Its research is illustrated by its participation in several SFBs ('). These collaborative research centres are financed by the German Science Foundation '. They encourage researchers to cross the boundaries of disciplines, institutes, departments and faculties within the participating university. The current SFB at Philipps-University Marburg are: * SFB/TR17 – Ras-dependent Pathways in Human Cancer (started 2004; with ) * SFB/TR22 – Allergic response of the lung (started 2005, with Research Center Borstel and LMU Munich) * SFB/TR81 – Chromatin Changes in Differentiation and Malignancies (started 2010, with ) * SFB-TRR 84 – Innate Immunity of the Lung (started 2010, with , , , , , ) * SFB-TRR 135 – Cardinal mechanisms of perception (started 2014, with ) * SFB 593 – Mechanisms of cellular compartmentalisation and the relevance for disease (started 2003) * SFB 987 – Microbial Diversity in Environmental Signal Response (started 2012, with Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg) * SFB 1083 – Structure and Dynamics of Internal Interfaces (started 2013, with Donostia International Physics Center San Sebastián, Spain) * SFB 1021 – RNA viruses: RNA metabolism, host response and pathogenesis (started 2013, with )

Collections of the university

* , the university's old

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 university's current botanical garden * (Collection of photographs taken from medieval charters) * (German national picture archive of arts) * (Collection of religious objects) * (Linguistic Atlas of Germany) * (Museum of Mineralogy) * (Museum of Arts) * (Museum of Anatomy and Medical History)

Rankings

For 2020–21 the university was ranked as 28th nationally and 369th worldwide.

Gallery

Marburg FB Wirtschaftswissenschaften.jpg, Department for Economic Studies Marburg Psychologisches Institut von SW.jpg, Department of Psychology Uni Marburg Lahnberge 04.jpg, The ' is dedicated to the natural sciences. The image shows the ''Multiple Purpose Building'', home of the Departments of Mathematics and Computer Science, as well as laboratories for research into material sciences and physical chemistry Uni Marburg FB Biologie 01.jpg, The building of the nearby Biology Department is of the same architectural style Klinikum Marburg 02.jpg, The University Hospital along with the Department for Medical Studies is also located at the Lahnberge Campus Alte Universität (Marburg) 2.jpg, The ''Old University'', housing the university church, the department for religious studies and a representative lecture hall Uni Marburg Studierendensekretariat (1).jpg, The administrative headquarters of the university Uni Marburg 20.jpg, The Central Lecture Hall Building, which has been built to cater for the increased number of students Marburg UB Neubau Eingang Alter Botanischer Garten von OSO.jpg, University library Marburg Uni Geisteswissenschaftliche Instiute von SSW.jpg, University of Marburg - Department of Social Sciences and former University library Mensa 01.jpg, One of the two large university cafeterias and canteens is located on the bank of the Lahn river

Notable alumni and faculty

Natural scientists

Ludwig Aschoff Karl Albert Ludwig Aschoff (10 January 1866 – 24 June 1942) was a German physician and pathologist. He is considered to be one of the most influential pathologists of the early 20th century and is regarded as the most important German patholo ...

Emil von Behring Emil von Behring (; Emil Adolf von Behring), born Emil Adolf Behring (15 March 1854 – 31 March 1917), was a German physiologist who received the 1901 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the first one awarded in that field, for his discover ...

Karl Ferdinand Braun Karl Ferdinand Braun (; 6 June 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology: he shared the ...

Klaus Bringmann Klaus Bringmann (28 May 1936, in Bad Wildungen - 14 July 2021Uwe Walter, ''Sinn fürs Wesentliche - Zum Tod von Klaus Bringmann'', In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung vom 19. Juli 2021) was a German historian, an author of books on Roman history, ...

* Robert Bunsen * Adolf Butenandt *

Georg Ludwig Carius Georg Ludwig Carius (August 24, 1829 – April 24, 1875) was a German chemist born in Barbis, in the Kingdom of Hanover. He studied under Friedrich Wöhler and was assistant to Robert Bunsen for 6 years. He was Director of the Marburger Chemica ...

Franz Ludwig Fick Franz Ludwick Fick (18 May 1813 – 31 December 1858) was a professor of anatomy at the University of Marburg. Education In 1835, he received his MD under Bünger from the University of Marburg. Career Fick studied the developmental mechanics ...

* Hans Fischer *

Edward Frankland Sir Edward Frankland, (18 January 18259 August 1899) was an English chemist. He was one of the originators of organometallic chemistry and introduced the concept of combining power or valence. An expert in water quality and analysis, he was ...

* Frederick Augustus Genth * Johann Peter Griess *

Karl Eugen Guthe Karl Eugen Guthe (5 March 1866 – 10 September 1915) was a German-born American academic and physicist, notable for being the first Dean of the Graduate Department at the University of Michigan. Education Guthe was born in Hanover, Germany, an ...

* Otto Hahn *

Johannes Hartmann Johannes Hartmann (Amberg, 14 January 1568 – Kassel, 7 December 1631) was a German chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of ...

* Thomas Archer Hirst * Erich Hückel *

Kathrin Jansen Kathrin U. Jansen (born 1958) is the former Head of Vaccine Research and Development at Pfizer. She previously led the development of the HPV vaccine ( Gardasil) and newer versions of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine ( Prevnar), and is working ...

Hermann Knoblauch Karl Hermann Knoblauch (; 11 April 1820 – 30 June 1895) was a German physicist. He is most notable for his studies of radiant heat. He was one of the six founding members of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft at Berlin on 14 January 1845. ...

* Hermann Kolbe * Albrecht Kossel *

Ulrich Lemmer Ulrich Lemmer (born May 1964) is a German electrical engineer and professor specializing in optoelectronics. Education Ulrich Lemmer received a diploma degree in physics from RWTH Aachen University in 1990 and a Ph.D. from the University of Ma ...

Otto Loewi Otto Loewi (; 3 June 1873 – 25 December 1961) was a German-born pharmacologist and psychobiologist who discovered the role of acetylcholine as an endogenous neurotransmitter. For his discovery he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or M ...

* Carl Ludwig *

Hans Meerwein Hans Meerwein (May 20, 1879 in Hamburg, Germany – October 24, 1965 in Marburg, Germany) was a German chemist. Several reactions and reagents bear his name, most notably the Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction, the Wagner–Meerwein rearr ...

* Ludwig Mond *

Denis Papin Denis Papin FRS (; 22 August 1647 – 26 August 1713) was a French physicist, mathematician and inventor, best known for his pioneering invention of the steam digester, the forerunner of the pressure cooker and of the steam engine. Early li ...

Heinrich Petraeus Heinrich Petraeus (Henricus Petraeus) (15891620) was a German physician and writer. He was Professor of Medicine at the University of Marburg. He was son-in-law of the chemist Johannes Hartmann Johannes Hartmann (Amberg, 14 January 1568 &ndash ...

(1589–1620) *

Otto Schindewolf Otto Heinrich Schindewolf (7 June 1896 – 10 June 1971) was a German paleontologist who studied the evolution of corals and cephalopods. Biography Schindewolf was on the faculty at the University of Marburg from 1919 until 1927. Then he beca ...

Thorsten M. Schlaeger Thorsten M. Schlaeger, Ph.D., is the head of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Core Facility of the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children's Hospital. He studied Human Biology ( Humanbiologie) at the University of Marburg and performed his Ph.D. thesis ...

Sunao Tawara was a Japanese pathologist known for the discovery of the atrioventricular node. Tawara was born in Ōita Prefecture and studied at the Medical School, Imperial University of Tokyo in Tokyo, graduating in 1901 and receiving his Doctorate of ...

John Tyndall John Tyndall FRS (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th-century Irish physicist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the ...

Wilhelm Walcher Wilhelm Walcher (7 July 1910 in Kaufbeuren – 9 November 2005 in Marburg) was a German experimental physicist. During World War II, he worked on the German nuclear energy project, also known as the Uranium Club; he worked on mass spectrometers ...

* Alfred Wegener * Georg Wittig *

Alexandre Yersin Alexandre Emile Jean Yersin (22 September 1863 – 1 March 1943) was a Swiss-French physician and bacteriologist. He is remembered as the co-discoverer of the bacillus responsible for the bubonic plague or pest, which was later named in his ...

Karl Ziegler Karl Waldemar Ziegler (26 November 1898 – 12 August 1973) was a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1963, with Giulio Natta, for work on polymers. The Nobel Committee recognized his "excellent work on organometallic compound ...

Theodor Zincke Ernst Carl Theodor Zincke (19 May 1843 – 17 March 1928) was a German chemist and the academic adviser of Otto Hahn. Life Theodor Zincke was born in Uelzen on 19 May 1843. He became a pharmacist and graduated in Göttingen with his Staatsex ...

Adolf Fick Adolf Eugen Fick (3 September 1829 – 21 August 1901) was a German-born physician and physiologist. Early life and education Fick began his work in the formal study of mathematics and physics before realising an aptitude for medicine. He ...

Theologians

Marburg was always known as a

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

-focused university. It retained that strength, especially in Philosophy and Theology for a long time after

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 ...

. * Rudolf Bultmann * Karl Barth * * Friedrich Heiler *

Wilhelm Herrmann Johann Georg Wilhelm Herrmann (6 December 1846 – 2 January 1922) was a Lutheran German theologian. Career Hermann taught at Halle before becoming professor at Marburg. Influenced by Kant and Ritschl, his theology was in the idealist traditio ...

* Aegidius Hunnius * Andreas Hyperius * Otto Kaiser * Helmut Koester * Jacob Lorhard * Rudolf Otto *

Johann Jakob Pfeiffer Johann Jakob Pfeiffer (6 October 1740 – 26 November 1791) was a German evangelical theologian who taught at the University of Marburg. Life and career Pfeiffer was the son of Cassel master dyer, Hieronymus Pfeiffer (30 December 1714 – 3 ...

* Kurt Rudolph *

Annemarie Schimmel Annemarie Schimmel (7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an influential German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam, especially Sufism. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992. Early life and education ...

Paul Tillich Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran Protestant theologian who is widely regarded as one of the most influential theolo ...

August Friedrich Christian Vilmar August Friedrich Christian Vilmar, German Neo-Lutheran theologian; born at Solz (near Rotenburg, 78 m. NE of Frankfurt) November 21, 1800; died at Marburg July 30, 1868. Early career In 1818-20 he studied theology at Marburg, only to learn doubt ...

Gottlieb Olpp Gottlieb Friedrich Adolf Olpp was a German missionary and tropical medicine doctor, accredited with spreading Traditional Chinese Medicine and aiding the development of sinology in Germany and the West in early 20th century. As a medical mission ...

- on medical missionary

Philosophers

* Wolfgang Abendroth * Hannah Arendt *

Karl Theodor Bayrhoffer Karl Theodor Otto Christian August Bayrhoffer (14 October 1812, in Marburg – 3 February 1888) was a German American philosopher, free-thinker, and publicist. In 1834 he received his PhD from the University of Marburg, where he later became a p ...

* Ernst Cassirer * Hermann Cohen *

Hans-Georg Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 '' magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family ...

Nicolai Hartmann Paul Nicolai Hartmann (; 20 February 1882 – 9 October 1950) was a Baltic German philosopher. He is regarded as a key representative of critical realism and as one of the most important twentieth-century metaphysicians. Biography Hartmann w ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...

Hans Heinz Holz Hans Heinz Holz (26 February 1927 – 11 December 2011) was a German Marxist philosopher. Born in Frankfurt am Main, he was professor of philosophy at the University of Marburg (from 1971 to 1979) and from 1979 to 1993 at the Universit ...

* Hans Jonas *

Friedrich Albert Lange Friedrich Albert Lange (; 28 September 1828 – 21 November 1875) was a German philosopher and sociologist. Biography Lange was born in Wald, near Solingen, the son of the theologian, Johann Peter Lange. He was educated at Duisburg, Züric ...

* Karl Löwith *

Paul Natorp Paul Gerhard Natorp (24 January 1854 – 17 August 1924) was a German philosopher and educationalist, considered one of the co-founders of the Marburg school of neo-Kantianism. He was known as an authority on Plato. Biography Paul Natorp was ...

José Ortega y Gasset José Ortega y Gasset (; 9 May 1883 – 18 October 1955) was a Spanish philosopher and essayist. He worked during the first half of the 20th century, while Spain oscillated between monarchy, republicanism, and dictatorship. His philosoph ...

Isaac Rülf Isaac (Yitzhak) Rülf (February 10, 1831 – September 18, 1902) was a Jewish teacher, journalist and philosopher. He became widely known for his aid work and as a prominent early Zionist. Rülf was born in Rauischholzhausen, Hesse, German ...

* Leo Strauss * Christian Wolff *

Eduard Zeller Eduard Gottlob Zeller (; 22 January 1814, Kleinbottwar19 March 1908, Stuttgart) was a German philosopher and Protestant theologian of the Tübingen School of theology. He was well known for his writings on Ancient Greek philosophy, especially ...

Sarveswara Sharma Peri Sarveswara may refer to: * Bhavaraju Sarveswara Rao an economist and a social scientist. * Ramayanam Sarveswara Sastry an eminent Indian actor. * Sarveswara Satakam ''Shaiva Bhakti Satakam'', a collection of Telugu poems written by Yathava ...

Other

Hermann Behrends Hermann Johann Heinrich Behrends (11 May 1907 – 4 December 1948) was a Nazi Party member and SS official with the rank of lieutenant general (''Gruppenführer''). Born in Rüstringen, Oldenburg, the son of a provincial innkeeper, he was educat ...

(1907–1948), German Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes * Gottfried Benn *

Gerold Bepler Gerold Bepler is the president and chief executive officer of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, headquartered in Detroit, is the largest cancer research and provider network in Michigan and has 1 ...

Jessie Forbes Cameron Jessie Forbes Cameron (1883 – 1968) was a British mathematician who in 1912 became the first woman to complete her doctorate in mathematics at the University of Marburg in Germany. Life and work Jessie Cameron was born on 8 January 1883 in ...

(1883–1968) * Georg Friedrich Creuzer * T. S. Eliot (who had to quit a summer school in August 1914, at the start of World War I) * Johannes Goddaeus *

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...

Wilhelm Grimm Wilhelm Carl Grimm (also Karl; 24 February 178616 December 1859) was a German author and anthropologist, and the younger brother of Jacob Grimm, of the literary duo the Brothers Grimm. Life and work Wilhelm was born in February 1786 in Hanau, i ...

Caspar Friedrich Hachenberg Caspar Friedrich Hachenberg (14 December 1709 (baptised) – 1 April 1793), was rector of the Latin school of Wageningen, The Netherlands (1740–1789) and writer of Greek and Latin grammars. Hachenberg was born in 1709 at Neuwied, the son o ...

* Gustav Heinemann * Stefan Hofmann * Beatrice Heuser * Kim Hwang-sik * Wilhelm Liebknecht * Mikhail Lomonosov * Carlyle Ferren MacIntyre *

Ulrike Meinhof Ulrike Marie Meinhof (7 October 1934 – 9 May 1976) was a German left-wing journalist and founding member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) in West Germany, commonly referred to in the press as the "Baader-Meinhof gang". She is the reputed author ...

Friedrich Paulus Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus (23 September 1890 – 1 February 1957) was a German field marshal during World War II who is best known for commanding the 6th Army during the Battle of Stalingrad (August 1942 to February 1943). The battle ende ...

* Boris Pasternak *

Ernst Reuter Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter (29 July 1889 – 29 September 1953) was the mayor of West Berlin from 1948 to 1953, during the time of the Cold War. Biography Early years Reuter was born in Apenrade (Aabenraa), Province of Schleswig-Holstei ...

* Ferdinand Sauerbruch * Friedrich Carl von Savigny * Heinrich Schütz *

Moritz Schuppert Moritz Schuppert (1817 – May 2, 1887) was an American surgeon, anti-vaccinationist and early advocate of antisepsis. Biography Schuppert was born in Marburg, Germany.Kelly, Howard Atwood. (1912)''A Cyclopedia of American Medical Biography, Vo ...

* Manfred Siebald *

Wilhelm Röpke Wilhelm Röpke (October 10, 1899 – February 12, 1966) was a German economist and social critic, best known as one of the spiritual fathers of the social market economy. A Professor of Economics, first in Jena, then in Graz, Marburg, Is ...

* Costas Simitis *

Jack Thiessen John Peter Thiessen (14 April 1931 – 9 October 2022) was a Canadian Russian Mennonite teacher, translator, and writer from Manitoba. Alongside Arnold Dyck and Reuben Epp, he was an important contributor to the development of Mennonite Low Ge ...

Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov (russian: Дмитрий Иванович Виноградов; 1720 – ) was a Russian chemist who developed Russian hard-paste porcelain; he was the founder of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. Vinogradov was b ...

* Ingeborg Weber-Kellermann * Richard Wiese (linguist)

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marburg, University Of 1527 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Biosafety level 4 laboratories Educational institutions established in the 1520s Universities and colleges in Hesse