113-473: 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
226-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
339-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
452-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
565-543: 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 , who later established the University of Berlin . 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
678-836: A diplomat and historian, had personal friendship with Otto von Bismarck during his two-year-long study in Göttingen. George Bancroft , a politician and historian, received his PhD from the University of Göttingen in 1820. In the 1930s, the university became a focal point for the Nazi crackdown on "Jewish physics", as represented by the work of Albert Einstein . In what was later called the "great purge" of 1933 , academics including Max Born , Victor Goldschmidt , James Franck , Eugene Wigner , Leó Szilárd , Edward Teller , Edmund Landau , Emmy Noether , and Richard Courant were expelled or fled. Most of them fled Nazi Germany for places like
791-540: A famous philosopher known as the father of phenomenology , moved to Göttingen to teach. Ludwig Prandtl joined the University of Göttingen in 1904, and developed it into a leader in fluid mechanics and in aerodynamics over the next two decades. In 1925, Prandtl was appointed as the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Fluid Mechanics. He introduced the concept of boundary layer and founded mathematical aerodynamics by calculating air flow in
904-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
1017-737: A legal scholar, and as the founder of a modern sociological and historical school of law . His ideas were important to the subsequent development of the "jurisprudence of interests" in Germany. Jhering was born on 22 August 1818 in Aurich , the Kingdom of Hanover . He entered the University of Heidelberg in 1836 and also studied in Göttingen , Munich , and starting 1838 in Berlin , where he earned his PhD. Of all his teachers, Georg Friedrich Puchta
1130-417: 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 . In the 18th century Johann Stephan Pütter , a scholar of public law at that time, taught jus publicum for half
1243-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
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#17327729690541356-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
1469-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
1582-582: A total of 38 additional centers and institutes (including associated centers and institutes but excluding institutes or departments within the faculties themselves). Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Informatics Law, Economic Sciences, and Social Sciences Associated Institutes In the QS World University Rankings 2024, it was placed the 232nd internationally and the 13th nationally. The Times Higher Education World University Rankings for 2024 ranked it as 111th globally and 10th at
1695-560: A university in Göttingen to spread the ideals of the Enlightenment . Napoleon 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 and a fencing house, with lectures held in the Paulinerkirche , Dominican monastery, or professors' homes. A university auditorium wasn't constructed until
1808-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and
1921-604: Is a member of the European Union , 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 , Peking University and Fudan University in China, Kyoto University and Waseda University in Japan and Amherst College in the United States. The most famous tradition of
2034-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
2147-874: Is also closely linked with a number of leading Göttingen-based research institutions like the 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. In 1734, King George II of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover , commanded his Prime Minister in Hanover, Gerlach Adolph von Münchhausen, to establish
2260-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
2373-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
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#17327729690542486-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
2599-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
2712-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
2825-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
2938-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
3051-510: Is no life outside Göttingen. Even if it is life, it is no life like here ). "Ancient university towns are wonderfully alike. Göttingen is like Cambridge in England or Yale in America: very provincial, not on the way to anywhere – no one comes to these backwaters except for the company of professors. And the professors are sure that this is the centre of the world. There is an inscription in
3164-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
3277-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
3390-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
3503-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
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3616-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
3729-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
3842-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
3955-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
4068-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
4181-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
4294-594: The Faculty of Law in Göttingen . Ursula von der Leyen , President of the European Commission , studied economics in Göttingen, where she met her husband Heiko von der Leyen . 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
4407-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
4520-500: The Göttingen school of history . Later, Max Weber , one of the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society, also studied history in Göttingen. The Brothers Grimm , the best-known storytellers of folktales like " Cinderella ", " The Frog Prince ", " Little Red Riding Hood ", " Sleeping Beauty ", and " Snow White ", taught here and compiled the first German dictionary. However, political disturbances, in which both professors and students were implicated, lowered
4633-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
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4746-536: The Jahrbücher für die Dogmatik des heutigen römischen und deutschen Privatrechts , and then separately; Der Besitzwille , and an article entitled Besitz in the Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenschaften (1891), which aroused much controversy at the time, particularly on account of the opposition manifested to Savigny's conception of the subject. Jhering was married to Ida Christina Frölich. His oldest son
4859-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
4972-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
5085-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
5198-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
5311-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
5424-671: The 'Royal Society for Sciences'. 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. 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
5537-451: The 18th century. Thereafter, Dirichlet and Riemann took over the chair successively and made significant contributions in the fields of algebra, geometry, and number theory. By 1900, David Hilbert and Felix Klein 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 ,
5650-439: The 19th century. 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 , 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
5763-843: 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 ( Nobel Prize in Physics , 2021), Stefan Hell ( Nobel Prize in Chemistry , 2014), Thomas C. Südhof ( Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine , 2013), and Thomas Arthur Steitz ( Nobel Prize in Chemistry , 2009). Klaus Hasselmann received his PhD in physics from
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#17327729690545876-554: The 8th nationally. Within the framework of the 2006–07 German Universities Excellence Initiative , 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
5989-482: The American banker J. P. Morgan , the seismologist Beno Gutenberg , the endocrinologist Hakaru Hashimoto , who studied there before World War I , and several notable Nobel laureates like Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg . Anthropologist Marlina Flassy earned her doctorate in Göttingen, before becoming the first woman and indigenous Papuan to be appointed Dean at Cenderawasih University . The German inventor of
6102-611: The Austrian metropolis became wearisome, and Jhering gladly exchanged it for the repose of Göttingen, where he became professor in 1872. That year, he had read a lecture in Vienna before an admiring audience, published under the title of Der Kampf um's Recht (1872; Eng. trans., The Struggle for Law , 1879). Its success was extraordinary. Within two years it attained twelve editions, and it has been translated into 26 languages. In this, his most famous work, Jhering based his theory of duty in
6215-614: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
6328-414: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
6441-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
6554-403: The German philosopher best known for his work The World as Will and Representation , became a student at the university, where he studied metaphysics and psychology under Gottlob Ernst Schulze , who advised him to concentrate on Plato and Kant . During this time, the University of Göttingen achieved renown for its critical work on history as well. An Enlightenment institution, it produced
6667-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
6780-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
6893-455: The International Court of Justice on behalf of the Federal Republic of Germany . Hsu Tzong-li , a Taiwanese judge who has served as the President of the Judicial Yuan (Taiwan's constitutional court) since 2016, earned his doctorate in law from University of Göttingen in 1986. Within the Göttingen Campus the university is organizationally and personally interlinked with the following independent and semi-independent institutions: As Germany
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#17327729690547006-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
7119-644: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
7232-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
7345-429: The Nanometer Range". In September 2018, Göttingen succeeded in gaining funds for its research cluster "Multiscale Bioimaging". 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 Misplaced Pages language versions, covering 59% of
7458-493: The Ratskeller there which reads 'Extra Gottingam non est vita', 'Outside Göttingen there is no life'. This epigram, or should I call it epitaph, is not taken as seriously by the undergraduates as by the professors." The university offers eight snack shops and six Mensas serving lunch at low prices for the students. One Mensa also provides dinner for students. Apart from those celebrities mentioned above, notable people that have studied or taught at Georg-August University include
7571-418: The United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Following the great purge, in 1934 David Hilbert , 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." After World War II , the University of Göttingen
7684-418: 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 and Göttingen. For example, Edward Everett , once Secretary of State and President of Harvard University , stayed in Göttingen for two years of study. George Ticknor spent two years studying classics in Göttingen. Even John Lothrop Motley ,
7797-493: 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 , currently a professor at Stanford University , 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
7910-483: 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 . As of 2021, four out of sixteen in-office Justices of the Federal Constitutional Court ( German : Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: BVerfG ), Germany's supreme constitutional court , are affiliated with
8023-421: 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
8136-588: 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 (1804–1891), and the philologist brothers Jakob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859)) – for protesting against
8249-550: 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. Closely linked with
8362-469: 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 , 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
8475-535: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
8588-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
8701-407: 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 , who, during this time, became one of the three discoverers of the non-relativistic theory of quantum mechanics . He may also have been the first to propose its probabilistic relationship with classical physics. It was one of
8814-407: The dry bones of Roman law. In that period, the German juristic world was still under the dominating influence of Savigny . The older school looked askance at the young professor, who attempted to build up a system of jurisprudence based on natural justice . This is the keynote of his famous work, Geist des römischen Rechts auf den verschiedenen Stufen seiner Entwicklung (The spirit of Roman law at
8927-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
9040-752: 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
9153-424: 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 ,
9266-433: The firmness of his character, the strength of his sense of justice, and his juristic method and logic: every responsible person owes a duty to himself to assert his rights. The Zweck im Recht evidences the bent of the author's intellect. But perhaps the happiest combination of all his distinctive characteristics is to be found in his Jurisprudenz des täglichen Lebens (1870; Eng. trans., 1904). A great feature of his lectures
9379-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
9492-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
9605-442: The jet engine, Pabst von Ohain , also studied aerodynamics under Ludwig Prandtl . Professor Gunther Heinrich von Berg (Doctor of Law), taught at the University of Göttingen between 1794 and 1800 before he entered politics. 51°32′31″N 9°56′04″E / 51.54194°N 9.93444°E / 51.54194; 9.93444 German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )
9718-441: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Rudolf von Jhering Caspar Rudolph Ritter von Jhering ( German: [ˈjeːrɪŋ] ; 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
9831-627: The main centers of the development of modern physics . Oppenheimer , the American scientist and "father of the atomic bomb", was one of Max Born '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
9944-556: The maintenance of one's rights , firstly, on the connection between rights and personality ; and secondly, on the solidarity of law and rights. The relationship of rights to personality is explored. Our rights involve a parcel of our social worth, our honor. Whoever violates our rights, attacks our worth, our honor. This work was followed five years later by Der Zweck im Recht (The Purpose in Law, 2 volumes, 1877–1883). These two works reflect Jhering's individuality. The Kampf ums Recht shows
10057-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
10170-417: 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 2022-2023 US News Best Global Universities Rankings , it was ranked the 163rd globally and
10283-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
10396-736: 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 University of Göttingen is a member of the U15 Group of major German research universities and the Coimbra Group of major European research universities, denoting its research prominence. The university
10509-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
10622-506: The revocation by Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover , of the liberal constitution of 1833 hurt the reputation of the city and the university. 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 , who was known as "the Prince of Mathematicians" and taught here in
10735-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
10848-586: 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. 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): Latin : Extra Gottingam non est vita, si est vita, non est ita ( There
10961-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
11074-545: The time, Göttingen was a very popular place for the study of law in Germany: Even the great German poet Heinrich Heine obtained a doctorate in law here in 1825. Otto von Bismarck , the main creator and the first Chancellor of the second German Empire , 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
11187-468: 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
11300-542: 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
11413-540: 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. The University of Göttingen encompasses 13 faculties and
11526-401: The various stages of its development, 1852–1865). Its originality and lucidity placed its author in the forefront of modern Roman jurists. In the second half of the 19th century, Jhering's reputation was as high as that of Savigny's in the first half. Their methods were almost diametrically opposed . Savigny and his school represented a historical approach. Jhering's conception of jurisprudence
11639-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
11752-435: The world's population and accounting for 68% of all Misplaced Pages articles across 287 languages. This comprehensive analysis identified the most influential universities globally over the past ten centuries, resulting in the "2017 Misplaced Pages 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
11865-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
11978-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
12091-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
12204-421: Was as a science to be utilized for the further advancement of the moral and social interests of mankind. In 1868, Jhering accepted the chair of Roman Law at Vienna , where his lecture-room was not only crowded with regular students but also men of all professions and even high-ranking officials. In 1872 Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria conferred a title of hereditary nobility upon him. The social functions of
12317-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
12430-472: Was his so-called Praktika , problems in Roman law, and a collection of these with hints for solution was published as early as 1847 under the title Civilrechtsfalle ohne Entscheidungen . Aside from shorter positions at Leipzig and Heidelberg, Jhering continued to work in Göttingen until his death on 17 September 1892. His other works include the following: Beiträge zur Lehre vom Besitz , first published in
12543-655: Was the German-Brazilian zoologist Hermann von Ihering (1850–1930). He was also the great-great-grandfather of Australian singer and actress Olivia Newton-John through his daughter Helene Ehrenberg and her marriage to the German jurist Victor Ehrenberg . Jhering was elected a foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1874. See also Scherz und Ernst in der Jurisprudenz (1885); Das Schuldmoment im römischen Privatrecht (1867); Das Trinkgeld (1882); and among
12656-443: 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 , a famous German philosopher and sociologist, pursued his study in Göttingen. Later, Richard von Weizsäcker , a late President of Germany , earned his doctorate in law here. Gerhard Schröder , a former Chancellor of Germany , also graduated from
12769-661: Was the most influential one to him. In 1844, after graduating as a doctor juris , Jhering established himself in Berlin as Privatdozent for Roman law , and delivered public lectures on the Geist des römischen Rechts (Spirit of Roman law), the theme that may be said to have constituted his life's work. In 1845, he became an ordinary professor at the University of Basel , in 1846 at Rostock , in 1849 at Kiel , and in 1851 at Giessen . He left his mark at each of those seats of learning; beyond any other of his contemporaries he animated
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