Friedrich Schiller University of Jena

Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
Latin: Universitas Litterarum Jenensis
Established	1558
Type	Public university
Rector	Prof. Klaus Dicke
Staff	2,161 non-medical, 4,136 medical
Students	20,866
Location	Jena, Germany
Affiliations	Coimbra Group EUA
Website	www.uni-jena.de

Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (FSU) is located in Jena, Thuringia in Germany and was renamed for the German writer Friedrich Schiller in 1934.

As of 2008, the university has around 20,800 students enrolled and 340 professors. Its current rector, Klaus Dicke, is the 317th rector in the history of the university.

Organisation

The university is organised into the following ten faculties:

• theology
• jurisprudence
• economics and business administration
• philosophy
• social and behavioural sciences
• mathematics and computer science
• physics and astronomy
• chemical and earth sciences
• biology and pharmacy
• medicine

Museums and collections at the University

• Academic Coin Cabinet
• Alphons Stübel Collection of Early Middle Eastern Photographs (1850 - 1890)
• Botanischer Garten Jena, the second oldest botanical garden in Germany
• Hilprecht-Collection of Ancient Oriental Art
• Mineralogical Collection
• Oriental Coin Cabinet
• Phyletical Museum

History

The elector John Frederick, Elector of Saxony first thought of a plan to establish a university at Jena in 1547 while he was being held captive by emperor Charles V. The plan was put into motion by his three sons and, after having obtained a charter from the emperor Ferdinand I, the university was established on February 2, 1558.

Prior to the 20th century, University enrollment peaked in the 18th century. The university's reputation peaked under the auspices of duke Charles Augustus, Goethe's patron (1787–1806), when Gottlieb Fichte, G. W. F. Hegel, Friedrich Schelling, Friedrich von Schlegel and Friedrich Schiller were on its teaching staff.

Founded as a home for the new religious opinions of the sixteenth century, it has since been one of the most politically radical universities in Germany. Jena was noted among other German universities at the time for allowing students to duel and to have a passion for Freiheit, which were popularly regarded as the necessary characteristics of German student life. The University of Jena has preserved a historical detention room or Karzer with famous caricatures by Swiss painter Martin Disteli.

At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, the German government militated against the university, which remained unpopular until recent times. This is believed to have been caused by the opening of new universities and the suspicions of the various German governments in regard to the democratic ideas coming out of Jena.

In the latter 19th century, the department of zoology taught evolutionary theory, with Carl Gegenbaur, Ernst Haeckel, and others, publishing detailed theories at the time of Darwin's "Origin of Species" (1858). The later fame of Ernst Haeckel eclipsed Darwin in some European countries, as the term "Haeckelism" was more common than Darwinism.

In 1905, Jena had 1100 students enrolled, and its teaching staff (including privatdozenten) numbered 112. Amongst its numerous auxiliaries then were the library, with 200,000 volumes; the observatory; the meteorological institute; the botanical garden; the seminaries of theology, philology, and education; and the well-equipped clinical, anatomical, and physical institutes.

During the 20th century, the cooperation between Zeiss corporation, and the university brought new prosperity and attention to Jena, resulting in a dramatic increase in funding and enrollment.

Notable alumni

• Eva Ahnert-Rohlfs (doctorate astronomy 1951)
• Johann Bachstrom, writer, scientist, physician and Lutheran theologian
• Ernst Gottfried Baldinger, distinguished German physician
• Gottfried Benn
• Hans Berger
• Alfred Brehm
• Rudolf Carnap
• Nathan Cobb
• Georg Friedrich Creuzer
• Gottlob Frege
• Roland Freisler
• Johann Matthias Gesner
• Nelson Glueck
• Peter Griess
• Friedrich von Hagedorn
• Arvid Harnack
• Gerhart Hauptmann
• Cuno Hoffmeister
• Ján Kollár
• Karl Christian Friedrich Krause
• Gottfried Leibniz
• August Leskien
• Robert Ley
• Karl Marx (doctorate "in absentia", 1841)
• Rowena Morse Mann - first woman doctor of philosophy
• Ernest Nash
• Axel Oxenstierna
• Samuel von Pufendorf
• Arthur Schopenhauer (doctorate "in absentia", 1813)
• Hugo Schuchardt - linguist
• Johann Gustav Stickel - orientalist
• Michael Stifel
• Kurt Tucholsky
• Christa Wolf
• Christian Wolff
• Solomon Marcus Schiller-Szinessy - doctorate (philosophy) (mathematics)

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Literature

• Mayhew, Henry (1864): German Life and Manners as Seen in Saxony at the Present Day: With an Account of Village Life - Town Life - Fashionable Life - Domestic Life - Married Life - School and University Life, &c., of Germany at the Present Time: Illustrated with Songs and Pictures of the Student Customs at the University of Jena. In Two Volumes. London [Vol. II, Section VII, Chapter VI-XI: Student Life at Jena].

External links

• University of Jena
• University of Jena, statistics
• Coimbra Group (a network of leading European universities)

Coordinates: 50°55′42″N 11°34′56″E / 50.92833°N 11.58222°E / 50.92833; 11.58222