Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich

University of Munich
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
Seal of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Latin: Universitas Ludovico-Maximilianea Monacensis
Established	1472 (as University of Ingolstadt until 1802)
Type	Public
Rector	Prof. Dr. Bernd Huber
Admin. staff	13,602; 700 Professors (as of WS 2009/2010)
Students	45,539 (as of WS 2009/2010; 15% international)
Location	Munich,  Germany
Colours	Green and White
Affiliations	German Excellence Universities LERU
Website	http://www.uni-muenchen.de/

The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (German: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), commonly known as the University of Munich or LMU, is a university in Munich, Germany. A public research university, it is amongst Germany's oldest universities.

Originally established in Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke Ludwig XI of Bavaria-Landshut, the university was moved in 1800 to Landshut by King Maximilian I of Bavaria when Ingolstadt was threatened by the French, before being relocated to its present-day location in Munich in 1826 by King Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1802, the university was officially named Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität by King Maximilian I of Bavaria in his as well as the university's original founder's honour.^[1]

The University of Munich has, particularly since the 19th century, been considered as one of Germany's as well as Europe's most prestigious universities; in 2006, it was among the first three German universities to be conferred the title of "elite university" under the German Universities Excellence Initiative, cementing its position as one of Germany's premier universities. In terms of Nobel laureates associated with the university, several illustrious figures include first physics laureate Wilhelm Röntgen, Max Planck, Werner Heisenberg, chemistry laureate Otto Hahn as well as literature laureate Thomas Mann. Other notable alumni also include anti-Nazi activists Sophie and Hans Scholl, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Konrad Adenauer as well as the incumbent Pope Benedict XVI, who was both a student and professor at the university.

Statistically, it is currently the second-largest university in Germany in terms of student population; in the winter semester of 2009/2010, the university had a total of 45,539 matriculated students. Of these, 7,801 were freshmen while international students totalled 6,743 or almost 15% of the student population. As for endowments, the university records in 2008 a total of 458.8 million Euros in funding without the university hospital; with the university hospital, the university has a total funding amounting to approximately 1 billion Euros.^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 University buildings 3 Faculties 4 Rankings 5 Associated research centres 6 Notable alumni and faculty 7 See also 8 Notes 9 External links

History

The university was founded with papal approval in 1472 as the University of Ingolstadt (foundation right of Louis IX the Rich), with faculties of philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence and theology. Its first rector was Christopher Mendel of Steinfels, who later became bishop of Chiemsee.

In the period of German humanism, the university's academics included names such as Conrad Celtes and Petrus Apianus. The theologian Johann Eck also taught at the university. From 1549 to 1773, the university was influenced by the Jesuits and became one of the centres of the Counter-Reformation. The Jesuit Petrus Canisius served as rector of the university.

At the end of the 18th century, the university was influenced by the Enlightenment, which led to a stronger emphasis on natural science.

In 1800, the Prince-Elector Maximilian IV Joseph (the later Maximilian I King of Bavaria) moved the university to Landshut, due to French aggression that threatened Ingolstadt during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1802, the university was renamed the Ludwig Maximilian University in honour of its two founders, Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria and Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria. The Minister of Education, Maximilian von Montgelas, initiated a number of reforms that sought to modernize the rather conservative and Jesuit-influenced university. In 1826, it was moved to Munich, the capital of the Kingdom of Bavaria. The university was situated in the Old Academy until a new building in the Ludwigstraße was completed.

In the second half of the 19th century, the university rose to great prominence in the European scientific community, attracting many of the world's leading scientists. It was also a period of great expansion. From 1903, women were allowed to study at Bavarian universities, and by 1918, the female proportion of students at LMU had reached 18 %. In 1918, Adele Hartmann became the first woman in Germany to earn the Habilitation (higher doctorate), at LMU.

During the Weimar Republic, the university continued to be one of the world's leading universities, with professors such as Wilhelm Röntgen, Wilhelm Wien, Richard Willstätter, Arnold Sommerfeld and Ferdinand Sauerbruch.

During the period of national socialist rule, academic freedom was severely curtailed. In 1943 the White Rose group of anti-Nazi students conducted their campaign of opposition to the national socialists at this university.

The university has continued to be one the leading universities of West Germany during the Cold War and in the post-reunification era. In the late 1960s, the university was the scene of protests by radical students.

Today the University of Munich is part of 24 Collaborative Research Centers funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is host university of 13 of them. It also hosts 12 DFG Research Training Groups and three international doctorate programs as part of the Elite Network of Bavaria. It attracts an additional 120 million euros per year in outside funding and is intensively involved in national and international funding initiatives.

LMU Munich has a wide range of degree programs, with 150 subjects available in numerous combinations. 15% of the 45,000 students who attend the university come from abroad.

In 2005, Germany’s state and federal governments launched the Excellence Initiative, a contest among its universities. With a total of 1.9 billion euros, 75 percent of which comes from the federal state, its architects aim to strategically promote top-level research and scholarship. The money is given to more than 30 research universities in Germany.

The initiative will fund three project-oriented areas: Graduate schools to promote the next generation of scholars, clusters of excellence to promote cutting-edge research and “future concepts” for the project-based expansion of academic excellence at universities as a whole. In order to qualify for this third area, a university had to have at least one internationally recognized academic center of excellence and a new graduate school.

After the first round of selections, LMU Munich was invited to submit applications for all three funding lines: It entered the competition with proposals for two graduate schools and four clusters of excellence.

On Friday 13 October 2006, a blue-ribbon panel announced the results of the Germany-wide Excellence Initiative for promoting top university research and education. The panel, composed of the German Research Foundation and the German Science Council, has decided that LMU Munich will receive funding for all three areas covered by the Initiative: one Graduate school, three “excellence clusters” and general funding for the university’s “future concept”.

University buildings

LMU's institutes and research centers are spread throughout Munich, with several buildings located in the suburbs of Oberschleissheim and Garching as well as Maisach and Bad Tölz. The university's main buildings are grouped around Geschwister-Scholl-Platz and Professor-Huber-Platz on Ludwigstrasse, extending into side streets such as Akademiestraße, Schellingstraße, and Veterinärstraße. Other large campuses and institutes are located in Großhadern (Klinikum Großhadern), Martinsried (chemistry and biotechnology campus), the Ludwigsvorstadt (Klinikum Innenstadt) and in the Lehel (Institut am Englischen Garten), across from the main buildings, through the Englischer Garten.

The university's main building is situated in Geschwister-Scholl-Platz and the university's main campus is served by the Munich subway's Universität station.

Faculties

The university currently consists of 18 faculties:

1. Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology
2. Faculty of Protestant Theology
3. Faculty of Law
4. Faculty of Business Administration
5. Faculty of Economics
6. Faculty of Medicine
7. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
8. Faculty for History and the Arts
9. Faculty of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science and Religious Science
10. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences
11. Faculty for the Study of Culture
12. Faculty for Languages and Literatures
13. Faculty of Social Sciences
14. Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics
15. Faculty of Physics
16. Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
17. Faculty of Biology
18. Faculty of Geosciences and Environmental Sciences

Rankings

LMU Munich is consistently ranked among the world's top 100 universities in various international ranking surveys such as the Academic Ranking of World Universities and the Times Higher Education Supplement which ranks over 1000 universities worldwide. In 2010, Human Resources & Labor Review, a human competitiveness index & analysis published in Chasecareer Network, LMU Munich was the only German university listed in its list of the world's best 50 universities and was ranked 38th internationally.^[3]

Notable rival German universities in terms of rankings include TU München, University of Heidelberg and the Free University of Berlin.

Tables comparing the year-on-year ranking performance of the University of Munich based on popular international ranking exercises are as follows:

Year	Source	International Ranking	Regional Ranking	National Ranking
2006	Academic Ranking of World Universities[4]	51	10	1
2007	Academic Ranking of World Universities[5]	53	11	1
2008	Academic Ranking of World Universities[6]	55	13	1
2009	Academic Ranking of World Universities[7]	55	14	1
2010	Academic Ranking of World Universities[8]	52	13	1

Year	Source	Overall International Ranking	International Arts & Humanities Ranking	International Natural Sciences Ranking	International Social Sciences Ranking	Overall National Ranking
2006	Times Higher Education Supplement[9]	98	-	-	-	3
2007	Times Higher Education Supplement[9]	65	56	62	82	2
2008	Times Higher Education Supplement[10]	93	60	48	99	3
2009	Times Higher Education Supplement[10]	98	48	43	77	4

Associated research centres

The university also includes the following research departments and institutes, some of which are co-operatively managed with other organisations:

• The Parmenides Center, run together with the Parmenides Foundation.^[11]
• The Rachel Carson Center for Environmental Studies, a joint initiative of LMU and Deutsches Museum.^[12]

Notable alumni and faculty

Many notable individuals have studied or taught at the University of Munich. As of 2010, 34 Nobel laureates are associated with the university.

The alumni of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich played a major role in the development of quantum mechanics. Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory and Nobel laureate in Physics in 1918, was an alumnus of the university. Founders of quantum mechanics such as Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and others were associated with the university. Most recently, to honor the Nobel laureate in Chemistry Gerhard Ertl, who worked as a professor at the University of Munich from 1973–1986, the building of the Physical Chemistry was named after him.

The White Rose society which carried out anti-Nazi resistance was based out of this university.

See also

• Education in Germany
• List of universities in Germany
• List of forestry universities and colleges

Notes

External links

• University of Munich Website (German)
• University of Munich Website (English)
• Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich for foreign students on iAgora - Reviews by former Erasmus and other international students in Munich.
• 360° Panorama at the Ludwig Maximilians University

German Excellence Universities RWTH Aachen · Free University of Berlin · University of Freiburg · University of Göttingen · University of Heidelberg · Karlsruhe Institute of Technology · University of Konstanz · Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich · Technical University of Munich

League of European Research Universities Amsterdam · Barcelona · Cambridge · Edinburgh · Freiburg · Geneva · Heidelberg · Helsinki · Imperial College · Karolinska (Stockholm) · Leiden · Leuven · Lund · Milan · LMU Munich · Oxford · Paris VI: Pierre et Marie Curie · Paris-Sud · Strasbourg · University College London · Utrecht · Zürich

Universities and colleges in Munich Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität · Technische Universität · Ukranian Free University · Universität der Bundeswehr München · Munich School of Political Science · University of Philosophy · University of Applied Sciences · Munich Business School · FOM - Hochschule fuer Oekonomie und Management