University of Wittenberg
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Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Established: 1502
Type: Public university
Rector: Prof. Dr. Wulf Diepenbrock
Staff: 5.017 (335 chairs)
Students: 18.690 (2006)
Location: Halle, Saxony Anhalt, Germany
Campus: Urban
Colors: Emerald green     
Mascot: Lions
Affiliations: Global Compact
Website: http://www.uni-halle.de/
For the American university, see Wittenberg University.

The Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (German: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg within Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

The university was created in 1817 through the merger of the University of Wittenberg (founded 1502) and the University of Halle (founded 1694). The university is named after the Protestant reformer Martin Luther, who was a professor in Wittenberg. Today, the university itself is located in Halle, while the Leucorea Foundation in Wittenberg serves as MLU’s convention centre (and hotel) for seminars as well as for academic and political conferences. Leucorea also hosts the Wittenberg Centre for Global Ethics. Both Halle and Wittenberg are about one hour from Berlin by ICE high speed train.

Contents

History

The University of Wittenberg was founded in 1502 by Frederick the Wise, Elector of Saxony.[1] Under the influence of Philipp Melanchthon, building on the works of Martin Luther, the university became a centre of the Protestant Reformation. Notable attendees include George Müller, Georg Joachim Rheticus, and, in fiction, William Shakespeare's Prince Hamlet.

The University of Halle was founded in 1694 by Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, who became Frederick I, King in Prussia, in 1701. Halle subsequently became a center for Pietism within Prussia.

Leucorea Foundation, Wittenberg.
Leucorea Foundation, Wittenberg.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the universities were centers of the German Enlightenment. Christian Wolff was an important proponent of rationalism. He influenced many German scholars, such as Immanuel Kant. Christian Thomasius was at the same time the first philosopher in Germany to hold his lectures not in Latin, but German. He contributed to a rational program in philosophy but also tried to establish a more common-sense point of view, which was aimed against the unquestioned superiority of aristocracy and theology.

The University of Wittenberg was closed in 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars. The town of Wittenberg was granted to Prussia in the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and the university was then merged with the Prussian University of Halle in 1817.

Faculties

University of Halle in 1836.
University of Halle in 1836.

Following the continental European academic tradition, MLU has several faculties, regrouping academic staff and students according to their field of studies (as opposed to the anglo-Saxon collegiate university model):

Cooperating research institutions

The interior of MLU's Löwengebäude (Lions' Building).
The interior of MLU's Löwengebäude (Lions' Building).

Martin Luther University is enclosed by a variety of research institutions, which have either institutional or personal links with the university or cooperate occasionally in their respective fields of studies:

Collegium musicum

MLU’s Auditorium Maximum (in the background) and entry of Lions' Building (in the front).
MLU’s Auditorium Maximum (in the background) and entry of Lions' Building (in the front).

Even though Martin Luther University is an academic, research oriented institution, not an academy of music or conservatory, the university has an academic orchestra (founded in 1779) and a choir (founded in 1950), which constitute the so called Collegium musicum. Members are mostly gifted students of all faculties, but also academic staff and alumni. In 2007, the "Johann Friedrich Reichardt University Choir", led by MLU’s musical director Jens Lorenz and Jens Arndt, took part in the "18th International Competition of Choral Music" in Verona, Italy. The choir was awarded the overall distinction "Gold – Excellent" for its performance with spiritual and secular a cappella works from the renaissance, baroque and romantic periods and the 20th century. In addition, it was awarded one of three special awards for the best interpretation of the compulsory piece "As Torrents in Summer" by Edward Elgar.[2] The choir is also regularly performing at "International Handel Festival" [12] in George Frideric Handel’s birthplace Halle.

Partner universities

MLU's Thomasianum (office of MLU’s president and chancellor).
MLU's Thomasianum (office of MLU’s president and chancellor).

Martin Luther University has 42 partner universities in 22 countries, including:

Notable scholars

University Hospital, Halle.
University Hospital, Halle.
Melanchthoneanum (on the right) and faculty of law (on the left).
Melanchthoneanum (on the right) and faculty of law (on the left).
Dorothea Erxleben, the first female medical doctor in Germany.
Dorothea Erxleben, the first female medical doctor in Germany[3].

Given the history[4] and reputation[5] of Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, numerous notable personalites have attended the institution, such as Nobel laureates Gustav Ludwig Hertz, Hermann Staudinger, and Karl Ziegler, as well as Anton Wilhelm Amo, the first colored Sub-Saharan African known to have attended a European university, Dorothea Erxleben, the first female medical doctor in Germany, Frederick Muhlenberg, the first Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States, Hans Dietrich Genscher, Germany’s longest serving Foreign Minister, and:

Notes

  1. ^ Britannica, vol 12, p.719
  2. ^ Martin Luther University (2008): MLU Yearbook 2007, p. 138
  3. ^ Schiebinger, L. (1990): "The Anatomy of Difference: Race and Sex in Eighteenth-Century Science" pp.399, Eighteenth Century Studies 23(3) pp.387-405
  4. ^ Speler, Ralf-Torsten (2003): 'Die Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg', Erfurt: Sutton, ISBN 978-3-89702-482-3
  5. ^ Due to rather homogeneous standards of teaching and research, German university rankings generally are far less significant than for many other countries. Nevertheless, for example, MLU’s faculty of economics ranks out University of Heidelberg, the oldest (and often considered as the foremost) German university, in 13 of 19 testet categories, according to the 2007 survey of German Academic Exchange Service.[1]

References

  • The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th Edition. Chicago, 1988.

External links

Coordinates: 51°29′11″N 11°58′08″E / 51.48639, 11.96889
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