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University of Erlangen–Nuremberg

University of Erlangen–Nuremberg (German: Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, FAU) is a public research university in the cities of Erlangen and Nuremberg in Bavaria, Germany. The name Friedrich–Alexander comes from the university's first founder Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and its benefactor Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach.[1]

Former names

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen

Wissen bewegen

Moving knowledge

1742 (1742) (first)
4 November 1743 (1743-11-04) (moved)[1][2]

€ 721.6 million[3]
Third party funding: € 243.2 million[4]

Christian Zens[5]

629 professors
3604 (other academic staff)[6]

6,570 (2022)[6]

39,658 (WS 2022/23)[7]

Urban

  Blue

FAU is a member of the German Research Foundation DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).

1700–1704: The Schloss of the Margraves at Erlangen is built.

1743: Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, issues an edict whereby the university recently founded in Bayreuth is transferred to Erlangen. It has the four faculties of Protestant Theology, Jurisprudence, Medicine and Philosophy.

1769: The University at Erlangen is given the new name of Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in honour of Alexander, Margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth.

1818: The library of the , dissolved in 1809, is moved to Erlangen.

University of Altdorf

1824: The first hospital is built.

1825: The university moves into the Schloss.

1920: The WiSo Faculty (Business Administration, Economics & Social Sciences) is established.

1927: Science is taken out of the Faculty of Arts thus creating the new Faculty of Science.

1961: The FAU acquires a further faculty through merger with the Nuremberg College of Economics and Social Sciences (founded in 1919). The university's name is now Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg.

1966: The Faculty of Engineering is established. (FAU is thus the first of the traditional universities of the old federal republic to incorporate engineering as an independent faculty.)

1972: The Teacher Training College in Nuremberg is incorporated into the Faculty of Education.

1993: The FAU celebrates its 250th anniversary.

1994: The Free State of Bavaria purchases for the university 4.4 hectares of land in Erlangen previously owned by the US military. The area is now called Röthelheim Campus.

2000: The Bavaria-California Technology Centre opens its headquarters at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg.

2000: Inauguration of the Research Centre in Clinical Molecular Biology in Erlangen.

2001: Opening of the Röthelheim Campus on the site of the old artillery barracks.

2004: Inauguration of the new building at the WiSo Faculty of Business Administration, Economics & Social Sciences in Nuremberg.

Faculty of , Social Sciences, and Theology

Humanities

Faculty of Business, Economics, and Law

Faculty of Medicine

Faculty of Sciences

Faculty of Engineering

Research[edit]

Major research areas[edit]

FAU claims leadership in a number of research topics. The current eight such major research areas are:[15][16]

Partnerships[edit]

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is the first German university to establish a branch campus in Busan in the Republic of Korea. FAU has contacts with approximately 500 universities all over the world, including many of the world's top universities like the University of Cambridge, Duke University, UCL, Imperial College London and many more.[29]

Awards[edit]

Alexander von Humboldt Professorships[edit]

In 2010, the newly announced professor of physics and co-director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Prof. Vahid Sandoghdar was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship,[44] Germany's highest-endowed international research award, endowed with €3.5 million. In the year 2011, the second in a row, FAU communications engineer and researcher Prof. Dr.-Ing Robert Schober (born 1971) was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, entailed with €3.5 million,[45][46][47] for an algorithm developed by him which is found in many modern phones today. In 2013, Prof. Oskar Painter received an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship as well. Prof. Painter is another new co-director of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light.

German Excellence Initiative[edit]

The University of Erlangen-Nürnberg was successful within the German Universities Excellence Initiative in competing for a "cluster of excellence" and a graduate school.[48] The Cluster of Excellence 'Engineering of Advanced Materials' (EAM)" focuses on interdisciplinary developing new materials, joining engineering and natural sciences. The Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies emphasizes a strong focus in optical and photonics technology in the natural sciences, in engineering and the medical sciences and aims for a concise doctoral education. It is supplemented with a Master's degree program in the same topics.


After an in-depth evaluation, both programs were extended for the third phase of the German Excellence Initiative in 2012 until 2017. They contribute significantly to the research funding of the University, including five new research buildings, permanent new technical facilities and research and teaching staff. They also aim to increase the international perception of the contributing fields of research in Erlangen.

biologist and geologist

Louis Agassiz

(1739–1810), naturalist, studied mammals.

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber

(1798–1869), personal physician to Thomas Jefferson, considered the "Father of American Physiology"

Robley Dunglison

(1755–1843), founder of homeopathy

Samuel Hahnemann

(1769–1859), Geographer and Explorer, attended lectures in Chemistry and Physics.[49]

Alexander von Humboldt

(1788–1866), orientalist and poet.[49]

Friedrich Rückert

(1789–1854), physicist, Ohm's law, named after him.

Georg Simon Ohm

(1803–1873), chemist, "father of the fertilizer industry".

Justus von Liebig

(1804–1872), philosopher, associated with the Young Hegelians, an atheist.

Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach

(1813–1901), historian, father-in-law to Felix Klein and son of the philosopher Hegel

Karl von Hegel

(1849–1925), Mathematician

Felix Klein

(1852–1919), chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1902

Hermann Emil Fischer

(1860–1917), chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1907

Eduard Buchner

(1868–1941), world chess champion, mathematician, philosopher.

Emanuel Lasker

(1882–1935), mathematician, Noether's theorem, named after her.

Emmy Noether

(1882–1945), physicist, Geiger counter

Hans Geiger

(1897–1977), Chancellor of Germany 1963–1966

Ludwig Erhard

(1899–1959), physiologist

Otto Friedrich Ranke

(1902–1979), Professor of New Testament Studies

Ethelbert Stauffer

(1924–2018), German physician, and international sports administrator

Wolf-Dieter Montag

(1927–), First Lady of Lithuania 1998–2009

Alma Adamkienė

(1930–2019), historical linguist and first woman member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Johanna Narten

(1936–), virologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008

Harald zur Hausen

(1941–), former CEO of Siemens AG (1992–2005).

Heinrich von Pierer

(1954–), audio engineer, developer of the MP3 audio codec.

Karlheinz Brandenburg

(1965–), mathematician, host of YouTube channel Mathologer.

Burkard Polster

(1924–2018), demographer

Anatole Romaniuk

(*1966), mechanical engineer and elected Rector of the University of Prishtina

Naser Sahiti

(born 1978), founder in the Philipp Plein brand

Philipp Plein

(born 1989), serial entrepreneur and founder of VEERT

Julia Lang (entrepreneur)

(born 1973), the James A.F. Stoner Endowed Chair in Global Sustainability and a professor of Global Sustainability and Social Entrepreneurship at Fordham University

Michael A. Pirson

German linguist and author

Eberhard Wagner

FAU Faculty of Engineering campus

FAU Faculty of Engineering campus

Department of Computer Science

Department of Computer Science

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering

Department of Electrical, Electronic and Communication Engineering

Property for good thoughts designed by Marian Bogusz, on the Faculty of Engineering campus

Property for good thoughts designed by Marian Bogusz, on the Faculty of Engineering campus

Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology and central lecture hall

Faculty of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theology and central lecture hall

Regional Computing Centre

Regional Computing Centre

the university's botanical garden

Botanischer Garten Erlangen

List of early modern universities in Europe

Recktenwald Prize

Top Industrial Managers for Europe

Fraunhofer Society

Official website