The University of Marburg, officially called Philipps-Universität Marburg after its founder, the Landgrave Philipp I of Hesse (usually called the Magnanimous), was founded in 1527 and is the world's first and oldest Protestant university. It was the main university of the principality of Hesse and remains a public university of that German state. It now has almost 20,000 students and 8,000 employees, making Marburg the proverbial "university town" (Universitätsstadt).
In spite of many famous natural scientists teaching and studying at Marburg, such as Robert Bunsen, Emil von Behring, Otto Heinrich Schindewolf and Otto Hahn, Marburg was always known as a Humanities university; it retained that strength, especially in Philosophy and Theology, for a long time after World War II. Famous theologians include Rudolf Otto, Rudolf Bultmann, and today - if emeritus - Otto Kaiser; philosophers include Christian Wolff, Martin Heidegger, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. Other famous students were Boris Pasternak, the Brothers Grimm, Gottfried Benn, Gustav Heinemann and W.E.B. Griffin.
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Last updated: 10-21-2005 23:43:43
