The old University of Duisburg was a university in
Duisburg
Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...
, Germany.
History
Its origins date back to the 1555 decision to create a university for the unified duchies at the
Lower Rhine
Lower Rhine (, ; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the Rhine) is the section of the Rhine between Bonn in Germany and the North Sea at Hook of Holland in the Netherlands, including the '' Nederrijn'' () within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta; alternat ...
that were later to be merged into Prussia. After the foundation of an academic college in 1559, a university was founded in 1655 by
Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick William (; 16 February 1620 – 29 April 1688) was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia, thus ruler of Brandenburg-Prussia, from 1640 until his death in 1688. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he is popularly known as "th ...
, the "Great Elector". The university had four faculties: Theology, Medicine, Law and Arts. During its period of activity it was one of the central and leading universities of the western provinces of Prussia. In the time the university existed many famous men graduated (listed in the German version of this article). It existed until 1818, when it was closed by King
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved ...
. At the same time the
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...
was founded, which was given most of the library of the closed down University of Duisburg.
In 1968, the university was founded again in Duisburg, related to the old one, bearing the name: ''Comprehensive University of Duisburg''. Initially only small, the university was developed rapidly in the 1970s up to about 15.000 students. The ''Comprehensive University of Duisburg'' was given the name of
Gerhard Mercator in 1994. In 2003, the Gerhard Mercator University merged with the ''University of Essen'' to form the
University of Duisburg-Essen
The University of Duisburg-Essen () is a public research university in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the 2019 ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'', the university was awarded 194th place in the world. It was originally ...
, which is today one of the largest universities in Germany with about 40,000 students.
See also
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List of early modern universities in Europe
The list of early modern universities in Europe comprises all University, universities that existed in the early modern age (1501–1800) in Europe. It also includes short-lived foundations and educational institutions whose university status is ...
References
History of the University of Duisburg and Essen
External links
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{{authority control
1559 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire
Duisburg
Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...
Duisburg
Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...
Duisburg