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It was founded in the early 15th century and was originally comprised of four faculties. In DDR-times, it was called Karl-Marx-university (KMU). Today it has grown to 14 faculties and with over 29.000 students Leipzig hosts Saxony's second largest university. Since its inception the university enjoyed almost 600 years of uninterrupted teaching and research. There are now more than 150 institutes and the university offers 190 study programs leading to a diplomas, Master's degrees and teaching qualifications. Arguably, the Faculty of Medicine is the university's most renowned faculty. It was founded in 1415.

1 History

The 'Alma mater Lipsiensis' opened on 2 December 1409 after it had been officially endorsed by Pope Alexander V in his Bull of Acknowledgment on 9 September 1409. Its first rector was Johann von Münsterberg .

2 Faculties

The original four facilities were the Faculty of Arts, Theology, Medicine, and Law. Today, the university comprises the following 14 faculties.

• Faculty of Theology
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of History, Art and Oriental Studies
• Faculty of Philology
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Social Sciences and Philosophy
• Faculty of Economics and Management (incl. Civil Engineering)
• Faculty of Sports Science
• Faculty of Medicine (and a University Hospital)
• Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
• Faculty of Biosciences, Pharmacy and Psychology
• Faculty of Physics and Earth Science
• Faculty of Chemistry and Mineralogy
• Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

3 People associated with the University of Leipzig

The University of Leipzig in the past has attracted a number of renowned scholars. Among the great minds that shaped the profile of the university are:

• chemist Wilhelm Ostwald
• economist Karl Bücher
• economist Wilhem Roscher
• educationalist Theodor Litt
• germanist Theodor Frings
• Greek scholar Petrus Mosellanus
• historian Karl Lamprecht
• historian Walter Markov
• historian Wilhelm Maurenbrecher
• neurologist Paul Flechsig
• philologist Johann Christoph Gottsched
• philosopher Ernst BlochSee also Ernest Bloch the composer. Ernst Bloch ( July 8, 1885 August 4, 1977) was a German philosopher. He was born in Ludwigshafen, the son of an assimilated Jewish railway-employee. After studying philosophy, he married Else von Stritzky, daughter of a
• philosopher Christian ThomasiusChristian Thomasius ( January 1, 1655 September 23, 1728), was a German jurist and publicist. He was born at Leipzig and was educated by his father, Jakob Thomasius (1622-1684), at that time head master of the Thomasschule. Through his father's lectures,
• physicist Werner HeisenbergWerner Karl Heisenberg ( December 5, 1901 February 1, 1976) was a celebrated physicist and Nobel laureate, one of the founders of quantum mechanics. He was born in Wurzburg, Germany and died in Munich. Heisenberg was the head of Nazi Germany's nuclear ene
• physicist Gustav Ludwig HertzGustav Ludwig Hertz ( July 22 1887, Hamburg October 30 1975, Berlin) was a physicist, and a nephew of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz. He won a Nobel Prize in 1925 for studies in cooperation with James Franck of electrons passing through gas. He was the father of C
• psychologist Wilhelm WundtWilhelm Max Wundt ( August 16, 1832- August 31, 1920), German physiologist and psychologist, is generally acknowledged as the founder of experimental psychology. His chief method of investigation was introspection; he asked participants to look inwards an
• romanist Werner Krauss
• theologian and poet Christian Fürchtegott Gellert

The following illustrious students spent their earlier years at Leipzig.

• Georg AgricolaGeorg (or Georgius Agricola ( March 24, 1490 November 21, 1555) was a German scholar and man of science. Known as "the father of mineralogy", he was born at Glauchau in Saxony. His real name was Georg Bauer Agricola is the Latinised version of his name, B, mining engineer and natural philosopher
• Marc BlochMarc Laeopold Benjamin Bloch ( July 6, 1886 June 16, 1944) was a historian of medieval France in the period between the First and Second World Wars, and a founder of the Annales School. Born at Lyon, the son of the professor of ancient history Gustave Blo, French historian
• Emile DurkheimDavid Emile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 November 15, 1917) is known as the founder of modern sociology. He was also the founder of the first journal devoted to social science, the Annee Sociologique which is also the name used to refer to the group of stude, French sociologist
• Kurt Albert Gerlach, Sociologist
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet
• Ulrich von Hutten writer and political leader
• Erich Kästner, author
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Philosopher and writer
• Lin Yutang, writer
• Thomas Müntzer, political leader and theologian
• Friedrich Nietzsche philosopher
• Samuel Pufendorf, Historian
• Robert Schumann, composer
• Richard Wagner, composer
• Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , physicist and philosopher
• Gustav Zeuner, physicist and engineer