University of Greifswald - Notable People

Notable People

The University of Greifswald is associated with a number of notable people, including both former students and faculty. For instance, two Nobel prize laureates as well as two German chancellors have studied or worked in Greifswald.

Johannes Stark (1874–1957) received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 (see Nobel Prize Website) "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields" during his time at the University of Greifswald. In 1939, Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964) received the Nobel Prize in Medicine (see Nobel Prize Website) "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil". The university was named in honour of its former student and faculty member, the writer, politician and poet Ernst Moritz Arndt. Otto von Bismarck, chancellor of the German Empire from 1871–1890 and the "engineer" of the Unification of Germany in 1871, had a connection to Greifswald when he studied at the agricultural college, as well as one of his successors, Prince Bernhard von Bülow, who was chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.

Franz Seldte, a chemist by profession, worked as German labour minister. Johannes Bugenhagen, who introduced the Reformation in much of Northern Germany and Scandinavia was a student at the University of Greifswald and Thomas Thorild, a Swedish poet spent parts of his life in Greifswald. Alfred Gomolka, Member of the European Parliament for the CDU, worked for the university as well as the mathematician Felix Hausdorff.Bernhard Windscheid is one of the fathers of present German civil law. Ferdinand Sauerbruch, Theodor Billroth, Johann Friedrich Dieffenbach and Friedrich Loeffler made important contributions to the field of medical science. Hermann Löns became famous as a poet just like the discovers of Africa explorer Gustav Nachtigal became known around the world. Carl Schmitt, one of the most influential figures of 20th century political science was a member of staff. Mie scattering is named for Gustav Mie, a former professor of Physics. Georg Friedrich Schömann, Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff were noted classical philologists. Ernst W. Mayr, one of the 20th century's most influential evolutional biologists, studied at the University of Greifswald.

A number of public figures received honorary doctorates of the University of Greifswald, including Jacques Delors (former President of the European Commission) and Hannelore Kohl (wife of former German chancellor Helmut Kohl).

The University of Greifswald and her research partners have also been visited by a number of heads of states, including then-chancellor of Germany Gerhard Schröder (2000, 2001), chancellor Angela Merkel (2010), Presidents of Germany Roman Herzog (1997) and Horst Köhler (2006), and Queen Silvia of Sweden (2006).