Founding of the University in Kiel

The origins of the university in Kiel trace back to the increasing need for well-educated priests during the Reformation. Additionally, the growing involvement of citizens in significant administrative roles contributed to the idea of establishing a university in the duchies. However, wars in the early 17th century and political conflicts between dukes and the king initially delayed these plans. Eventually, Duke Friedrich III commissioned his son, Christian Albrecht, to advance the founding of the university. In 1660, Christian Albrecht succeeded in realizing these plans and selected Kiel as the university's location. On October 5, 1665, the university was inaugurated under the name Christiana Albertina in a former Franciscan monastery with four lecture halls and a library. At that time, 17 professors taught theology, medicine, law, and the liberal arts.^[3][4]

Periods of Growth and Stagnation

A significant growth period for the university occurred a century later under Russian Empress Catherine the Great, from whom it received its colors, purple and white. Following the unification of the duchies in 1773, the university continued to flourish as the northernmost German and southernmost Scandinavian university. Nearly 100 years later, the university's development stagnated, particularly after Schleswig-Holstein became part of Prussia. From 1870, student numbers began to rise again, and 38 years later, women were also admitted.^[3]

During and after WWII

During the Nazi regime starting in 1933, the university experienced Gleichschaltung, the expulsion of Jewish professors, and the persecution of dissenters. In World War II, many buildings were destroyed by Allied air raids, including the university library in 1942.^[3]

Post-War Reconstruction and Expansion

With the support of the British, teaching resumed as early as November 1945, initially on ships. In the 1960s, a new campus was developed on the Kiel Westring. The student protests of the late 1960s led to a modernization of the university's structure. The campus was expanded in 1972 with buildings on Olshausenstraße and new sports facilities, and in 1991, the Faculty of Engineering opened in Kiel-Gaarden. The number of students steadily increased and now stands at about 25,000 to 30,000. The Christian-Albrecht University has not only become an internationally respected university but also one of the largest employers in Kiel.^[3]

Alumni

See also Category:University of Kiel alumni

• Franz Boas (1858–1942), anthropologist
• Alice Bota (born 1979), journalist
• Georg von Dadelsen (1918–2007), musicologist, Neue Bach-Ausgabe
• Gerhard Domagk, bacteriologist, Nobel laureate
• Andre Franke, geneticist
• Maren Gaulke (born 1955), herpetologist
• Johanna Hellman (1889–1982), surgeon
• Mareile Höppner, television presenter^[7]
• Doris König, current judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
• Wolfgang Kubicki, politician, vice chairman of the FDP in Germany, from 1992 to 1993 and since 1996 he is faction leader of the FDP in the Landtag, the parliament of Schleswig-Holstein, member of the Bundestag
• Oswald Pohl (1892–1951), Nazi SS officer executed for war crimes
• Viktoria Schmidt-Linsenhoff (1944–2013), German art historian and professor
• Gerhard Stoltenberg, politician, former prime minister of Schleswig-Holstein, former finance minister of Germany
• Peer Steinbrück, politician, former prime minister of North Rhine Westphalia, former finance minister of Germany
• Erich Walter Sternberg, composer
• Sibylle Kessal-Wulf, current judge of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, Germany's highest court
• Surya Hermawan, lecturer at Petra Christian University, Indonesia

Academics

Gallery

• "Some shine when you read them" - Aerial photograph of the University Library of the CAU on Leibniz Street
• The Leibniz Institute for the Education in Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Olshausenstraße
• The Center for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ZMB) of the CAU at the Botanical Garden
• Leibniz-Straße-based institutes, the cafeteria and the university library
• The Otto-Hahn-Platz and the Max-Eyth-Straße with the various chemical institutes and the Anatomical Institute
• The sports facilities and the Institute of Sports Science of the CAU
• The grounds of the botanical garden of the CAU Kiel
• The greenhouses of the Botanical Garden of the CAU