The University, founded in 1477, builds on more than five centuries of tradition. Key dates:
1474 First mention of the University: Count Eberhard the Bearded petitions Pope Sixtus IV for permission to establish a university.
1477 Count Eberhard the Bearded founds the University, establishing four faculties - Theology, Law, Medicine, Philosophy
1535-36 Founding of the Evangelisches Stift seminary
1769 Duke Karl Eugen von Württemberg adds his name to that of the University, making it “Eberhardino-Carolina"
1790 – 1793 Hölderlin, Hegel and Schelling are all students at the Evangelisches Stift.
1817 Founding of the Economics Faculty and the Faculty of Catholic Theology
1863 The first Science Faculty established at a German university
1876 Enrollments top 1,000 for the first time
1904 Tübingen admits its first female students
1977 The University celebrates its 500th anniversary
1979 Enrollments pass 20,000 for the first time
1997 Opening of the Museum in Schloss Hohentübingen with unique artifacts from prehistory, classical archaeology, ancient Egypt, the ancient Middle East, and cultural anthropology.
2007 Establishment of the Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) excellence cluster
2010 Formation of seven broad-based faculties (Protestant Theology, Catholic Theology, Law, Medicine, the Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences, and Science)
2011 Opening of the Center of Islamic Theology, the first of its kind in Germany
2012 Success in the German government’s Excellence Initiative with the Graduate School on Learning, Educational Achievement, and Life Course Development (LEAD), the Center for Integrative Neuroscience excellence cluster, and the University’s institutional strategy Research - Relevance - Responsibility.
2016 Cyber Valley artificial intelligence cooperation launched in southwest Germany. The collaboration includes the University of Tübingen and other partners from the fields of academia, business and policymaking.
2018 Success in the German government’s Excellence Strategy. The three new University of Tübingen Clusters of Excellence are approved – in Infectiology, Cancer Research and Machine Learning.
2019 The University of Tübingen is once more selected as one of Germany’s Universities of Exellence under the German government’s Excellence Strategy.
2022 For the first time in its history, the University is headed by a woman, Professor Karla Pollmann.
Founding and naming
Count Eberhard the Bearded (gov. 1445-1496), later Duke of Württemberg and Teck, founded the University in 1477. In the foundation document, the Count set out the University’s tasks:
[It shall] …help to dig the well of life, from which may be drawn constant consolatory and healing wisdom from all ends of the Earth to quench the ruinous fire of human stupidity and blindness…
Graf Eberhard im Bart
Where did the palm in the University logo come from?
After returning from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, Count Eberhard the Bearded made the palm tree his personal symbol. Wooden pillars in the Burse, the University’s oldest remaining building, have carved palm trees in them, as well as the Count’s personal motto, which remains the University motto today:
"Attempto!" (Latin for: I dare!)
Great names
Many famous people have studied and worked at the University of Tübingen over the centuries:
The philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer began his studies at the Evangelisches Stift seminary. Among his discoveries are Kepler’s three laws of planetary motion, describing the orbit of planets around the sun.
The astronomer and mathematician taught Hebrew and Astronomy at the University, and constructed the first mechanical computer. The Wilhelm Schickard Institute of Computer Science bears his name.
The philosopher - once a student of Theology at the Evangelisches Stift - was one of the leading figures in the German Idealism movement. His works include “The Phenomenology of Spirit.” The Hegelbau bears his name.
was a poet and scholarship holder at the Evangelisches Stift. The Friedrich Hölderlin Prize, awarded jointly by the University and the City of Tübingen, is named after him.
was the main founder of speculative Naturphilosophie; he entered the Evangelisches Stift in 1790 and stayed until the completion of his degree. He left his mark on nearly all the sciences of the time.
The poet had a scholarship to the Evangelisches Stift and later became a professor of German language and literature at the University of Tübingen. The Institute of Historical and Cultural Anthropology is named after him.
was an economic theorist. He was a professor of government administration in Tübingen and is considered the first German representative of macroeconomics. His efforts led to the founding of a school of government in 1817.
was a poet, storyteller, and translator. He studied Theology at the Evangelisches Stift and in 1852 received an honorary doctorate from the University of Tübingen.
The electrotechnician, Physics professor, and Nobel Prize laureate is best known for the cathode ray tube, which he developed. He helped to establish the University of Tübingen’s Institute of Physics.
The psychiatrist and neuropathologist spent part of his studies in Tübingen and later at a congress in Tübingen gave the first public description of the dementia which bears his name.
was a neo-Marxist. He is considered one of Germany’s most important 20th century philosophers. He taught at the University from 1961 and helped to shape the thinking behind the student protests of 1968.
The Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was a professor of Catholic Dogma in Tübingen 1966-1969. He played a leading role in the Second Vatican Council and was elected pope in 2005.
is a Schwiss priest and religious critic, who was a professor of Theology at the University of Tübingen until 1996. As a co-founder of the Global Ethic Foundation, he established the Global Ethics lecture series.
is a researcher; she studied Biochemistry in Tübingen and completed her doctorate on genetics here in 1973. In 1995 she received the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
