This is a list of notable academics who have taught or studied at the University of Göttingen, located in Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany.
Natural and pure sciences, mathematics A Wilhelm Ackermann – Mathematics Immo Appenzeller – Astrophysics Cahit Arf – (Doctorate in Mathematics)
B Heinrich Behmann – Mathematical Logic Paul Bernays – Mathematics, mathematical logic – (Student, later Professor extraordinarius) Patrick Blackett – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1948 Johann Friedrich Blumenbach— comparative anatomy Max Born – Mathematical Physics – (Professor ordinarius) – (1882–1970, in Göttingen 1921–1933) – Nobel Prize in Physics 1954 Walther Bothe – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1954 together with Max Born Stefan Bräse – Chemistry Michael Buback – Chemistry Adolf Butenandt – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1939
C Constantin Carathéodory – Mathematics Alonzo Church – Mathematical Logic (Postdoc) Richard Courant – Mathematics Haskell Curry – Mathematical Logic (Postdoc)
D Peter Debye – Mathematical Physics – (Professor ordinarius) – (1884–1966, in Göttingen 1914–1920) – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1936 Richard Dedekind – Mathematics Hans Georg Dehmelt – Nobel Prize in Physics 1989 Max Delbrück – Astronomy, Physics – Nobel Prize in Medicine 1969 Paul Dirac – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1933 (with Erwin Schrödinger) Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet – Mathematics
E Manfred Eigen – Biophysical Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1967 (with Ronald G. W. Norrish and George Porter) Albert Einstein – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1921 – (Visiting lecturer, 1915) Heinz Ellenberg – Biology, Botany – (Professor ordinarius) (1913–1997, in Göttingen 1966–1981 emeritus)
F William Feller – Mathematics Enrico Fermi – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1938 James Franck – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1925 (with Gustav Hertz) Gottlob Frege – Mathematical Logic Uta Fritze-von Alvensleben – Astrophysicist Lazarus Immanuel Fuchs – Mathematics
G Carl Friedrich Gauß – Astronomy, geodesy, mathematics, physics – (Professor ordinarius for astronomy) Gerhard Gentzen – Mathematics Kurt Gödel – Mathematical logic – (Visiting scholar, 1939) Maria Goeppert-Mayer – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1963 Victor Goldschmidt – Chair in Mineralogy Hans Grauert – Mathematics August Grisebach – Botany
H Alfréd Haar – Mathematics Otto Hahn – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1944 Georg Hamel – Mathematics Jacob Pieter Den Hartog – Fluid Mechanics Helmut Hasse – Mathematics Klaus Hasselmann – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 Herbert Hawkes – Mathematics Walter Norman Haworth – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1937 Stefan W. Hell – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 (affiliated with Heidelberg University but works at the Max-Planck Instiutute for Interdisciplinary Sciences at Göttingen formerly known as Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry) Heinrich Heesch – Mathematics Andreas J. Heinrich – Physics Werner Heisenberg – Physics – (Professor ordinarius) – Nobel Prize in Physics 1932 Ernst Hellinger – Mathematics Gerhard Herzberg – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1971 David Hilbert – Mathematics – (Professor ordinarius) Heinz Hopf – Mathematics Friedrich Hund – Mathematics
I Ernst Ising – Mathematics
J Pascual Jordan – Doctorate in Physics
K Erich Kamke – Doctorate in Mathematics Abraham Gotthelf Kästner – Mathematics Rudolf Kippenhahn – Astrophysics Felix Klein – Mathematics Friedrich Kohlrausch – Doctorate in physics Carl Koldewey – Mathematics Andrey Kolmogorov – Mathematics (Visiting scholar at the institute of mathematics, 1931 where he published his pioneering work in statistical physics) Hans Krebs – Biochemistry; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953 Herbert Kroemer – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 2000 Wolfgang Krull – Mathematics Heinrich Gerhard Kuhn – Physics
L Edmund Landau – Mathematics Dieter Langbein – Theoretical physics Irving Langmuir – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1932 Max von Laue – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1914 August Treboniu Laurian – Mathematics, Physics, founding member of the Romanian Academy and leader of the 1848 Revolution in Transylvania Georg Christoph Lichtenberg – Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy – (Student) – (Professor ordinarius)
M Saunders Mac Lane – Mathematics Tobias Mayer – Mathematics Robert Andrews Millikan – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1923 Hermann Minkowski – Mathematics Ludger Mintrop – Geophysics – pioneer in seismic exploration
N Leonard Nelson – Mathematics Walther Nernst – Physical Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1920 John von Neumann – Physics, Computer Science (Postdoc) Albert Niemann – Known for the synthesis of cocaine Emmy Noether – Mathematics
O Hans von Ohain – Physics (Doctorate) Joshua Sikhu Okonya – Agricultural sciences (Doctorate) Robert Oppenheimer – Physics (Doctorate in physics) Alexander Ostrowski – Mathematics (Doctorate in natural sciences)
P Peter Simon Pallas – Zoology, Botany – (Student) Wolfgang Pauli – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1945 Wilhelm Pfeffer – Botany – (Student) Max Planck – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1918 Ludwig Prandtl – Physics – (Professor ordinarius)
R Richard Rado – Mathematics Johann Radon – Mathematics Kurt Reidemeister – Mathematics Theodore William Richards – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1914 Bernhard Riemann – Mathematics – (Professor ordinarius) Frigyes Riesz – Mathematics Walther Ritz – Mathematics Carl Runge – Mathematics István Rybár – Geophysics (Visiting scholar)
S Arthur Moritz Schönflies – Mathematics Moses Schönfinkel – Mathematical Logic Hermann Amandus Schwarz – Mathematics Carl Ludwig Siegel – Mathematics – (Professor ordinarius) Hertha Sponer – Physics Hugo Steinhaus - Mathematics Moritz Abraham Stern – Mathematics – (Professor ordinarius) Otto Stern – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1943 Gabriel Sudan – Mathematics Thoralf Skolem – Mathematics, mathematical logic – (Visiting scholar) Thomas A. Steitz – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009
T Gustav Tammann – Inorganic and Physical Chemistry Oswald Teichmüller – Mathematics Edward Teller – Physics Bruno Tesch – Nazi war criminal known for his involvement in the invention and distribution of toxin Zyklon B studied chemistry here as an undergraduate. Le Van Thiem – Mathematics Otto Toeplitz – Mathematics Johann Georg Tralles – Mathematics Alan Turing – Computer Science; there is some debate about whether Turing interrogated Konrad Zuse late summer 1947 at a "mysterious meeting" in Göttingen.
V Woldermar Voigt – Mathematics Christiane Volger – Forestry
W Otto Wallach – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1910 Bartel Leendert van der Waerden – Mathematics Arnold Walfisz – Mathematics Ulrich Walter; biomedical sciences Wolfgang Sartorius von Waltershausen – Geology Wilhelm Weber – Physics – (Professor ordinarius) Julius Weisbach – Mathematics Hermann Weyl – Mathematics Eugene Paul Wigner – Physics – Nobel Prize in Physics 1963 Wilhelm Wien – (Student) – Nobel Prize in Physics 1911 Norbert Wiener – Mathematics Adolf Windaus – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1928 Friedrich Wöhler – Chemistry, Pharmacy – (Professor ordinarius)
Z Ernst Zermelo – Mathematics Richard Adolf Zsigmondy – Chemistry – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1925
Law, economics and social sciences A–M Rudolf von Bennigsen – Law – (Student) Otto von Bismarck – Law – (Student) – iron chancellor of the second German Empire Wilhelm von Bode – Law, Arts – (Student) Dieter Bohlen – Economics – (Student) Zhu De – (Student, 1922–1925) – Cofounder of the People's Liberation Army of China Georg Diederichs – Law, Economics, Pharmacy – (Student) Manolache Costache Epureanu – Law, (Prime Minister of Romania in 1870 and in 1876) Gustav von Hugo – Law – (Student) – (Professor ordinarius) Rudolf von Jhering – Law – (Student) – (Professor ordinarius) Klaus Kleinfeld – Business Administration – (Student) Georg Klute – (born 1952), ethnologist and sociologist, Prof.em.Dr. Univ. of Bayreuth Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf – Law and Administrative Sciences – (Student)= Ursula von der Leyen – Economics – President of the European Commission Georg Michaelis – Law – (doctorate) Nicolae Mișu – (doctorate Law, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania in 1919) John Pierpont Morgan – (Student)
N–Z Lassa Oppenheim – Law – (doctorate) Andreas Paulus – Law – (Professor, Judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Federal Republic of Germany) Helmuth Plessner – (Professor and university president) Johann Stephan Pütter – Law – (Professor ordinarius) Ingrid Robeyns – Economics – (student) Claus Roxin – Law – (Professor ordinarius1963–1971) Georg Friedrich Sartorius (von Waltershausen) – Economics and History Friedrich Carl von Savigny – Law – (Student) Wilhelm Theodor Schiefler – Law – writer, professor and linguist; Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig – Law – (scientific Assistant, Habilitand) Percy Ernst Schramm – History – (Professor 1929–1963) Gerhard Schröder – Law – (Student, AStA-Chairman, Honorary doctorate of Natural Sciences) – former chancellor of Germany Fritz-Dietlof von der Schulenburg – Law (Victim of 20 July 1944) – (Student) Joseph J. Sherman – Social Sciences – (Student) – Artist Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom Stein – Law – (Student, 1773–1777) Richard von Weizsäcker – History, Law – (Student, doctorate) – former President of Germany Hans Julius Wolff – Law – (doctorate)
Humanities and theology A–F Friedrich Bouterwek – Philosopher – (Professor) Heinrich Brugsch – Egyptology – (Professor ordinarius) – (1827–1894, in Göttingen 1868–1870) Georg Bühler – Scholar of Indian languages and law Alexander Conze – Archaeology – (Student, Privatdozent) Karl Deichgräber – Philology – (Student, Professor) Georg Ebers – Law (later famous Egyptologist) – (Student) Rudolf Eucken – Philosopher – (Student) – Nobel Prize in Literature 1908 Heinrich Ewald – Theology, Orientalistic – (Student) – (Professor ordinarius) Marlina Flassy – Anthropology, first woman Dean at Cenderawasih University. Johann Nikolaus Forkel – Law, Music (Student, Professor, Music director) Sigmar Gabriel – Teaching German, Sociology, Politics – (Student)
G–M Basil Lanneau Gildersleeve – American Classicist Günter Grass – Nobel Prize in Literature 1999 Hermann von Grauert – History – (Student) Jonas Grethlein, German classicist Georg Friedrich Grotefend – Philology – Decipherer of Cuneiform script Jacob Grimm – Linguistics and History of Literature – (Professor ordinarius, Bibliothekar) Wilhelm Grimm – Linguistics and History of Literature – (Professor ordinarius, Bibliothekar) Jürgen Habermas Rebekka Habermas – Modern history Nicolai Hartmann – Philosophy – (Professor) Heinrich Heine – Law – (Student, Doctorate) Johann Friedrich Herbart – Philosophy, Pedagogy, Psychology – (Professor) Christian Gottlob Heyne – Linguistics and History, Archaeology – (Professor ordinarius) Edmund Husserl – Philosophy Nae Ionescu – Philosophy – (Student) Charles W. Kent – Literature – student Walther Killy – Literature – Rector 1967–68 Reinhard Gregor Kratz – Biblical scholar, History of ancient Judaism Philip G. Kreyenbroek – Iranology – known for his studies on Yazidi culture August Leskien – Linguistics – (Professor extraordinarius) Gustav Meyer – Linguistics – (Assistant and later Professor) Adolf Muschg – Germanistics – (Assistant)
N–Z Ludwig Quidde – History, Philosophy, Economics – (Student) – Nobel Peace Prize 1927 (with Ferdinand Buisson) Eva Rieger – Musicology Dorothea von Rodde-Schlözer – Doctor of Philosophy – The first woman to be awarded a higher degree in Germany. Waldemar R. Röhrbein – History John Sadananda – Old Testament Scholar and Master of the Senate of Serampore College (University), India Friedrich Schlegel – Indology August Wilhelm Schlegel – Indology Arthur Schopenhauer – Philosophy Kurt Sethe – Egyptology – (Professor ordinarius) Hermann Spieckermann – biblical scholar, historian of ancient Near Eastern religion