The University of Bonn (German: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number of undergraduate and graduate programs in a range of subjects. Its library holds more than two million volumes. The University of Bonn has 525 professors and 31,000 students. Among its notable alumni and faculty are seven Nobel Laureates, two Fields Medalists, twelve Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize winners, Prince Albert, Pope Benedict XVI, Frederick III, Karl Marx, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Nietzsche, Konrad Adenauer, and Joseph Schumpeter. In the years 2010, 2011 and 2013, the Times Higher Education ranked the University of Bonn as one of the 200 best universities in the world.[2][3][4] The University of Bonn is ranked 94th worldwide according to the ARWU University ranking.
The university's forerunner was the Kurkölnische Akademie Bonn (English: Academy of the Prince-elector of Cologne) which was founded in 1777 by Maximilian Frederick of Königsegg-Rothenfels, the prince-elector of Cologne. In the spirit of the Enlightenment the new academy was nonsectarian. The academy had schools for theology, law, pharmacy and general studies. In 1784 Emperor Joseph II granted the academy the right to award academic degrees (Licentiat and Ph.D.), turning the academy into a university. The academy was closed in 1798 after the left bank of the Rhine was occupied by France during the French Revolutionary Wars.
The growth of the university came to a halt with World War I. Financial and economic problems in Germany in the aftermath of the war resulted in reduced government funding for the university. The University of Bonn responded by trying to find private and industrial sponsors. In 1930 the university adopted a new constitution. For the first time students were allowed to participate in the self-governing university administration. To that effect the student council Astag (German: Allgemeine Studentische Arbeitsgemeinschaft) was founded in the same year. Members of the student council were elected in a secret ballot.
After the Nazi takeover of power in 1933 the Gleichschaltung transformed the university into a Nazi educational institution. According to the Führerprinzip the autonomous and self-governening administration of the university was replaced by a hierarchy of leaders resembling the military, with the university president being subordinate to the ministry of education. Jewish professors and students and political opponents were ostracized and expelled from the university. The theologian Karl Barth was forced to resign and to emigrate to Switzerland for refusing to swear an oath to Hitler. The Jewish mathematician Felix Hausdorff was expelled from the university in 1935 and committed suicide after learning about his impending deportation to a concentration camp in 1942. The philosophers Paul Ludwig Landsberg and Johannes Maria Verweyen were deported and died in concentration camps. In 1937 Thomas Mann was deprived of his honorary doctorate. His honorary degree was restored in 1946.
The University of Bonn does not have a centralized campus. The main building is the Kurfürstliches Schloss, the former residential palace of the prince-elector of Cologne in the city center. The main building was built by Enrico Zuccalli for the prince-elector of Cologne, Joseph Clemens of Bavaria from 1697–1705. Today it houses the faculty of humanities and theology and the university administration. The Hofgarten, a large park in front of the main building is a popular place for students to meet, study and relax. The Hofgarten was repeatedly the place for political demonstrations as for example the demonstration against the NATO Double-Track Decision on 22 October 1981 with about 250,000 participants.
The school of law and economics, the main university library and several smaller departments are housed in modern buildings a short distance south of the main building. The department of psychology and the department of computer science are located in a northern suburb of Bonn.
The science departments and the main science library are located in Poppelsdorf and Endenich, west of the city center, and housed in a mix of historical and modern buildings. Notable is the Poppelsdorf Palace (German: Poppelsdorfer Schloss), which was built from 1715 to 1753 by Robert de Cotte for Joseph Clemens of Bavaria and his successor Clemens August of Bavaria. Today the Poppelsdorf Palace houses the university's mineral collection and several science departments; its grounds are the university's botanical garden (the Botanische Gärten der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn).
The school of medicine is located on the Venusberg, a hill on the western edge of Bonn. Several residence halls are scattered across the city. In total the University of Bonn owns 371 buildings.
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