100 Notable alumni of
Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main

Updated:

EduRank

The Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main is 242nd in the world, 82nd in Europe, and 14th in Germany by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 1 individual affiliated with the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main won Nobel Prizes in Physics.

  1. Jürgen Klopp

    Jürgen Klopp
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1967-.. (age 59)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    In 1995 studied sports science
    Occupations
    association football playerassociation football coach
    Biography

    Jürgen Norbert Klopp is a German football executive, former manager and former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he has been Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull GmbH since January 2025.

  2. Angela Davis

    Angela Davis
    Born in
    United States Flag United States
    Years
    1944-.. (age 82)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1965-1967
    Occupations
    university teacherwomen's rights activisthuman rights defenderpolitical prisonerwriter
    Biography

    Angela Yvonne Davis is an American Marxist and feminist political activist, philosopher, academic, author and social theorist. She is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She has been active in movements such as the Occupy movement and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

  3. Helmut Kohl

    Helmut Kohl
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1930-2017 (aged 87)
    Occupations
    historianpolitical scientistpoliticianChancellor of Germany
    Biography

    Helmut Josef Michael Kohl was a German politician who served as chancellor of Germany and governed the Federal Republic from 1982 to 1998. He was leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1973 to 1998 and oversaw the end of the Cold War, the German reunification and the creation of the European Union (EU). Kohl's 16-year tenure is the longest in German post-war history, and is the longest for any democratically elected chancellor of Germany.

  4. Erich Fromm

    Erich Fromm
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1900-1980 (aged 80)
    Occupations
    economistuniversity teachersociologistphilosopherpsychologist
    Biography

    Erich Seligmann Fromm was a German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanistic philosopher, and democratic socialist. He was a German Jew who fled the Nazi regime and settled in the United States. He was one of the founders of The William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology in New York City and was associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory.

  5. Peter Drucker

    Peter Drucker
    Born in
    Austria Flag Austria
    Years
    1909-2005 (aged 96)
    Occupations
    university teachercolumnistwriterphilosophereconomist
    Biography

    Peter Ferdinand Drucker was an Austrian American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of modern management theory. He was also a leader in the development of management education, and contributed to the popularization of the concepts known as management by objectives and self-control, and he has been described as "the champion of management as a serious discipline".

  6. Ludwig Erhard

    Ludwig Erhard
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1897-1977 (aged 80)
    Occupations
    university teachereconomistpolitician
    Biography

    Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard was a German politician and economist who served as the second chancellor of West Germany from 1963 until 1966. Affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), he is known for leading the West German postwar economic reforms and economic recovery (Wirtschaftswunder, German for "economic miracle") in his role as Minister of Economic Affairs under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer from 1949 to 1963. During that period he promoted the concept of the social market economy (soziale Marktwirtschaft), on which Germany's economic policy in the 21st century continues to be based.

  7. Nancy Faeser

    Nancy Faeser
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1970-.. (age 56)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied jurisprudence
    Occupations
    juristlawyerpolitician
    Biography

    Nancy Faeser is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), served as Federal Minister of the Interior and Community in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet from 2021 to 2025. She was a member of the State Parliament of Hesse from the 2003 elections until 2021. In 2019, she became the party's leader in Hesse, as well as the leader of the Opposition in the Landtag of Hesse.

  8. Michel Friedman

    Michel Friedman
    Born in
    France Flag France
    Years
    1956-.. (age 70)
    Occupations
    juristlawyeropinion journalistpoliticianjournalist
    Biography

    Julien Michel Friedman is a German author, former CDU politician, and talk show host. From 2000 to 2003, Friedman was vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and president of the European Jewish Congress from 2001 to 2003, when he resigned after being convicted in a case involving forced prostitution and cocaine usage. From 1998 to 2003, he had his own show on German television. Since 2004, he has been hosting a weekly talk show on N24 called Studio Friedman. Friedman is a lawyer by profession, and studied law and philosophy.

  9. Christian Drosten

    Christian Drosten
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1972-.. (age 54)
    Occupations
    university teachervirologist
    Biography

    Christian Heinrich Maria Drosten is a German virologist whose field of research broadly concerns RNA-viruses, specifically in the areas of ecology, epidemiology and evolution of novel viruses (emergent viruses). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Drosten's extensive work on previously described Coronaviruses (MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV) enabled him and his laboratory to notably contribute to the efforts to identify, monitor and manage the spread of SARS-CoV2, which led to his national prominence as an expert on the implications and actions required to combat the illness in Germany.

  10. Max Horkheimer

    Max Horkheimer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1895-1973 (aged 78)
    Occupations
    literary criticuniversity teacherphilosopherpedagoguesociologist
    Biography

    Max Horkheimer was a German philosopher and sociologist best known for his role in developing critical theory as director of the Institute for Social Research, commonly associated with the Frankfurt School.

  11. Hans Bethe

    Hans Bethe
    Born in
    France Flag France
    Years
    1906-2005 (aged 99)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    1924-1926 studied physics
    Occupations
    physicistuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Hans Albrecht Eduard Bethe was a German-American physicist who made major contributions to nuclear physics, astrophysics, quantum electrodynamics and solid-state physics, and received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967 for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. For most of his career, Bethe was a professor at Cornell University.

  12. Hans-Hermann Hoppe

    Hans-Hermann Hoppe
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1949-.. (age 77)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    1979-1981 graduated with Master of Science in economics
    Occupations
    writereconomistphilosopheruniversity teacher
    Biography

    Hans-Hermann Hoppe is a German-American academic associated with Austrian School economics, anarcho-capitalism, right-wing libertarianism, and opposition to democracy. From 1986 until 2008 he was professor of economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). He is a senior fellow of the Mises Institute think tank. In 2006 he emigrated to Turkey and founded the Property and Freedom Society. Some of the speakers at the organization's conferences in Turkey have been white nationalists.

  13. Janine Wissler

    Janine Wissler
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1981-.. (age 45)
    Occupations
    politicianpolitical scientist
    Biography

    Janine Natalie Wißler, known professionally as Janine Wissler, is a German politician who has been co-chairwoman of The Left and member of the Bundestag for Hesse since 2021. Prior to that, she served as member of the Landtag of Hesse since 2008 and leader of the state parliamentary group since 2009, including as sole leader since 2014, as well as deputy leader of the federal party since 2014. She was one of The Left's lead candidates for the 2021 German federal election, alongside Dietmar Bartsch.

  14. Charlotte Link

    Charlotte Link
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1963-.. (age 63)
    Occupations
    writerchildren's writer
    Biography

    Charlotte Link is a German writer. She is among the most successful contemporary authors writing in German.

  15. Sabine Hossenfelder

    Sabine Hossenfelder
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1976-.. (age 50)
    Occupations
    scientistphysicistwriterYouTuberscience communicator
    Biography

    Sabine Karin Doris Hossenfelder is a German theoretical physicist, science communicator, writer and YouTuber. After working as an academic physicist for two decades, Hossenfelder rose to prominence on YouTube in the early 2020s, gaining over 1.7 million subscribers by 2025. Hossenfelder is known for her controversial criticism of modern physics research.

  16. Peter Tauber

    Peter Tauber
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1974-.. (age 52)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1994-2007
    Occupations
    historianpolitician
    Biography

    Peter Michael Tauber is a former German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2021. From 16 December 2013 to 26 February 2018 he served as Secretary General of the CDU under the leadership of its chairwoman Angela Merkel.

  17. Max von Laue

    Max von Laue
    Awards
    Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1879-1960 (aged 81)
    Occupations
    university teachercrystallographerphysicist
    Biography

    Max Theodor Felix von Laue was a German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1914 "for his discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals".

  18. Alexander Kluge

    Alexander Kluge
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1932-.. (age 94)
    Occupations
    film directorvideo artistdirectorlawyerpoet lawyer
    Biography

    Alexander Kluge is a German author, philosopher, academic and film director.

  19. Giulia Enders

    Giulia Enders
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1990-.. (age 36)
    Occupations
    physicianwriternon-fiction writer
    Biography

    Giulia Enders is a German writer and scientist whose first book Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ, has sold more than two million copies in Germany and was published in English, French (more than one million copies sold), Italian, Spanish, Arabic and other translations in 2015.

  20. Carl Zuckmayer

    Carl Zuckmayer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1896-1977 (aged 81)
    Occupations
    screenwriterwriterplaywrightfilm screenwriterpoet
    Biography

    Carl Zuckmayer was a German writer and playwright. His older brother was the pedagogue, composer, conductor, and pianist Eduard Zuckmayer.

  21. Bettina Stark-Watzinger

    Bettina Stark-Watzinger
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1968-.. (age 58)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1993
    Occupations
    politicianpolitical economist
    Biography

    Bettina Stark-Watzinger is a German economist and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as Minister of Education and Research in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet from 2021 to 2024. She was a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hesse from 2017 to 2025.

  22. Kurt Biedenkopf

    Kurt Biedenkopf
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1930-2021 (aged 91)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    In 1958 graduated with Doctor of Laws in legal science and general economics
    Occupations
    university teacherjuristpolitician
    Biography

    Kurt Hans Biedenkopf was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU) party. He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum.

  23. Joachim Fest

    Joachim Fest
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1926-2006 (aged 80)
    Occupations
    historianfilm directorjournalistbiographerhistorian of Modern Age
    Biography

    Joachim Clemens Fest was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor who was best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including a biography of Adolf Hitler and books about Albert Speer and German resistance to Nazism. He was a leading figure in the debate among German historians about the Nazi era.

  24. Marion Gräfin Dönhoff

    Marion Gräfin Dönhoff
    Born in
    Russia Flag Russia
    Years
    1909-2002 (aged 93)
    Occupations
    editor-in-chiefjournalistopinion journalistresistance fighter
    Biography

    Marion Hedda Ilse Gräfin von Dönhoff was a German journalist and publisher who participated in the resistance against Nazism, along with Helmuth James Graf von Moltke, Peter Yorck von Wartenburg, and Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. After the war, she became one of Germany's leading journalists and intellectuals, working for over 55 years as an editor and later publisher of the Hamburg-based weekly newspaper Die Zeit.

  25. Roland Koch

    Roland Koch
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1958-.. (age 68)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied legal science
    Occupations
    legal counselorbusiness executivelawyerpolitician
    Biography

    Roland Koch is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on 31 August 2010. During his time in office, Koch was widely regarded as one of Chancellor Angela Merkel's main rivals within the CDU.

  26. Aby Rosen

    Aby Rosen
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1960-.. (age 66)
    Occupations
    art collector
    Biography

    Aby Rosen is a German and American real estate and hospitality tycoon living in New York City. He co-founded RFR Holding, which owns a portfolio of 93 properties valued over $15.5 billion in cities including New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, and Tel Aviv. Highlights include the Seagram Building, W South Beach, The Jaffa Tel Aviv, Gramercy Park Hotel, Paramount Hotel, and Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, among other properties. Rosen is also a member of, a founding investor in, and the landlord of the CORE Club in New York.

  27. Carolin Emcke

    Carolin Emcke
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1967-.. (age 59)
    Occupations
    LGBTQ rights activistcolumnistwriternon-fiction writerjournalist
    Biography

    Carolin Emcke is a German author and journalist who worked for Der Spiegel from 1998 to 2006, often writing from areas of conflicts. From 2007 to 2014, she worked as an international reporter for Die Zeit. Her book Echoes of Violence – Letters from a War Reporter was published in 2007 at Princeton University Press. In 2008, she published Stumme Gewalt ("Mute force"), in 2013 How We Desire (German: Wie wir begehren), in 2016 Against Hate (German: Gegen den Hass), and in 2019 Yes means yes and... (Ja heißt ja und...). Carolin Emcke was honoured with several awards such as the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels in 2016, and a Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland ("Federal Cross of Merit") in 2017.

  28. Michael Roth

    Michael Roth
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1970-.. (age 56)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1991-1997
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Michael Helmut Roth is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) who served as a member of the German Bundestag from 1998 to 2025.

  29. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard

    Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1942-.. (age 84)
    Occupations
    biologistuniversity teacherbiochemistpsychologistgeneticist
    Biography

    Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard ( German pronunciation: [kʁɪsˈti̯anə ˈnʏslaɪ̯n ˈfɔlˌhaʁt]; born 20 October 1942) is a German developmental biologist and a 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. She is the only woman from Germany to have received a Nobel Prize in the sciences.

  30. Tarek Al-Wazir

    Tarek Al-Wazir
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1971-.. (age 55)
    Occupations
    council memberpolitical scientistministerpolitician
    Biography

    Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir is a German politician of Alliance '90/The Greens who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since the 2025 elections, representing the Offenbach electoral district.

  31. Herfried Münkler

    Herfried Münkler
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1951-.. (age 75)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    In 1977 studied German studies and political science
    Occupations
    university teacherpolitical scientist
    Biography

    Herfried Münkler is a German political scientist. He is a Professor of Political Theory at Humboldt University in Berlin. Münkler is a regular commentator on global affairs in the German-language media and author of numerous books on the history of political ideas (German: Ideengeschichte), on state-building and on the theory of war, such as "Machiavelli" (1982), "Gewalt und Ordnung" (1992), "The New Wars" (orig. 2002) and "Empires: The Logic of World Domination from Ancient Rome to the United States" (orig. 2005). In 2009 Münkler was awarded the Leipzig Book Fair Prize in the category "Non-fiction" for Die Deutschen und ihre Mythen (engl. "the Germans and their myths").

  32. Marius Goring

    Marius Goring
    Born in
    United Kingdom Flag United Kingdom
    Years
    1912-1998 (aged 86)
    Occupations
    television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
    Biography

    Marius Re Goring CBE FRSL was an English stage and screen actor. He often portrayed urbane and morally-grey characters, and is best remembered for the four films he made with Powell & Pressburger, particularly as Conductor 71 in A Matter of Life and Death and as Julian Craster in The Red Shoes. He is also known for playing the titular role in the long-running TV drama series, The Expert.

  33. Jana Maláčová

    Jana Maláčová
    Born in
    Czech Republic Flag Czech Republic
    Years
    1981-.. (age 45)
    Occupations
    economistpolitical scientistpolitician
    Biography

    Jana Maláčová is a Czech politician who served as the leader of the Social Democracy party from October 2024 to December 2025. In July 2018 she took up the post as the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the Czech Republic in the Government led by Andrej Babiš. Between March 2019 and December 2021 she was also deputy chairperson of the Social Democracy (that time known as ČSSD).

  34. Benjamin List

    Benjamin List
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1968-.. (age 58)
    Occupations
    university teacherchemistscientist
    Biography

    Benjamin List is a German chemist who is one of the directors of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research and professor of organic chemistry at the University of Cologne. He co-developed organocatalysis, a method of accelerating chemical reactions and making them more efficient. He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with David MacMillan "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".

  35. Otto Stern

    Otto Stern
    Born in
    Poland Flag Poland
    Years
    1888-1969 (aged 81)
    Occupations
    university teacherchemistphysicist
    Biography

    Otto Stern was a German-American experimental physical chemist. He is the second most nominated person for a Nobel Prize, with 82 nominations during the years 1925–1945. In 1943, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his contribution to the development of the molecular ray method and his discovery of the magnetic moment of the proton".

  36. Peter Duesberg

    Peter Duesberg
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1936-2026 (aged 90)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Graduated with Doctor of Philosophy in chemistry
    Occupations
    university teacherchemistvirologist
    Biography

    Peter Heinz Hermann Duesberg was a German-American molecular biologist and a professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is known for his early research into the genetic aspects of cancer. He was a proponent of AIDS denialism, the claim that HIV does not cause AIDS.

  37. Nicola Beer

    Nicola Beer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1970-.. (age 56)
    Occupations
    lawyerpolitician
    Biography

    Nicola Beer is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a vice president of the European Investment Bank since 2024, under the leadership of president Nadia Calviño.

  38. Karin Strenz

    Karin Strenz
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1967-2021 (aged 54)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Karin Strenz was a German politician who represented the CDU. Strenz served as a member of the Bundestag for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern between 2009 and 2021.

  39. Boris Rhein

    Boris Rhein
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1972-.. (age 54)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Boris Rhein is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Minister-President of Hesse since 2022. He has been active in the politics of Hesse since the late 1990s. After being elected to the Landtag of Hesse in 1999, he served as the state's Minister for the Interior from 2010 until 2014 and as the Minister for Science and Art from 2014 to 2019. On 31 May 2022, he was elected to succeed Volker Bouffier as the Minister-President of Hesse. He led the CDU to a victory in the 2023 Hessian state election.

  40. Rüdiger Safranski

    Rüdiger Safranski
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1945-.. (age 81)
    Occupations
    writerliterary historiantelevision presenterphilosopher
    Biography

    Rüdiger Safranski is a German philosopher and author.

  41. Reinhard Selten

    Reinhard Selten
    Born in
    Poland Flag Poland
    Years
    1930-2016 (aged 86)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1951-1961
    Occupations
    mathematicianeconomistuniversity teacherEsperantist
    Biography

    Reinhard Justus Reginald Selten was a German economist, who won the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (shared with John Harsanyi and John Nash). He is also well known for his work in bounded rationality and can be considered one of the founding fathers of experimental economics.

  42. Hermann Otto Solms

    Hermann Otto Solms
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1940-.. (age 86)
    Occupations
    politicianentrepreneurtreasurer
    Biography

    Hermann Otto Solms is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).

  43. Thomas Metzinger

    Thomas Metzinger
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1958-.. (age 68)
    Occupations
    university teacherphilosopherwriter
    Biography

    Thomas Metzinger is a German philosopher and Professor Emeritus of theoretical philosophy at the University of Mainz. His primary research areas include philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, and applied ethics, particularly focusing on neurotechnology, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. He has argued in his book Being No One that the phenomenal self is a mental construct created by the brain. His 2024 book The Elephant and the Blind compiled extensive research on meditation.

  44. Peter Grünberg

    Peter Grünberg
    Born in
    Czech Republic Flag Czech Republic
    Years
    1939-2018 (aged 79)
    Occupations
    researcherphysicistteacheruniversity teacher
    Biography

    Peter Andreas Grünberg was a German physicist, and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his discovery with Albert Fert of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disk drives.

  45. Andrea Ypsilanti

    Andrea Ypsilanti
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1957-.. (age 69)
    Occupations
    politicianflight attendant
    Biography

    Andrea Ypsilanti is a German politician.

  46. Daniela Schadt

    Daniela Schadt
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1960-.. (age 66)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    In 1985 graduated with Magister Artium in French literature, politics, and German studies
    Occupations
    journalist
    Biography

    Daniela Schadt is a German journalist, and, since 2000, the domestic partner of Joachim Gauck, former president of Germany, who has been legally married since 1959 to Gerhild Radtke. She has sometimes been referred to by the media as "First Lady".

  47. Wolfgang Streeck

    Wolfgang Streeck
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1946-.. (age 80)
    Occupations
    university teachereconomic sociologistsociologist
    Biography

    Wolfgang Streeck is a German economic sociologist and emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.

  48. Heinz Nixdorf

    Heinz Nixdorf
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1925-1986 (aged 61)
    Occupations
    entrepreneurengineer
    Biography

    Heinz Nixdorf was a German computing pioneer, businessman and founder of Nixdorf Computer AG.

  49. Bassam Tibi

    Bassam Tibi
    Born in
    Syria Flag Syria
    Years
    1944-.. (age 82)
    Occupations
    university teacherphilosopherwriter
    Biography

    Bassam Tibi, is a Syrian-born German political scientist and professor of international relations specializing in Islamic studies and Middle Eastern studies. He was born in 1944 in Damascus, Syria to an aristocratic family, and moved to West Germany in 1962, where he later became a naturalized citizen in 1976.

  50. Gerd Binnig

    Gerd Binnig
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1947-.. (age 79)
    Occupations
    physicist
    Biography

    Gerd Karl Binnig is a German physicist. He is most famous for having won the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Heinrich Rohrer in 1986 for the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope.

  51. Günter Blobel

    Günter Blobel
    Born in
    Poland Flag Poland
    Years
    1936-2018 (aged 82)
    Occupations
    university teacherbiologistcell biologistbiochemistphysician
    Biography

    Günter Blobel was a Silesian German and American biologist and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell.

  52. Karl August Wittfogel

    Karl August Wittfogel
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1896-1988 (aged 92)
    Occupations
    playwrighteconomisthistoriansociologistuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Karl August Wittfogel was a German-American playwright, historian, and sinologist. He was originally a Marxist and an active member of the Communist Party of Germany, but after the Second World War, he was an equally fierce anticommunist.

  53. Jörg Baberowski

    Jörg Baberowski
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1961-.. (age 65)
    Occupations
    historianuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Jörg Baberowski is a German historian and Professor of Eastern European History at the Humboldt University of Berlin. He studies the history of the Soviet Union and Stalinist violence. Baberowski earlier served as Director of the Historical Institute and Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy I at Humboldt University.

  54. Erhard Eppler

    Erhard Eppler
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1926-2019 (aged 93)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Erhard Eppler was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and founder of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). He studied English, German and history in Frankfurt, Bern and Tübingen, achieved a PhD and worked as a teacher. He met Gustav Heinemann in the late 1940s, who became a role model. Eppler was a member of the Bundestag from 1961 to 1976. He was appointed Minister for Economic Cooperation first in 1968 during the grand coalition of Kurt Georg Kiesinger (CDU) and Willy Brandt (SPD), continuing under Chancellor Brandt in 1969 and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (SPD) in 1974, when he stepped down.

  55. Mike Josef

    Mike Josef
    Born in
    Syria Flag Syria
    Years
    1983-.. (age 43)
    Occupations
    politicianpolitical scientist
    Biography

    Mike Josef is a German politician who has served as the Lord Mayor of Frankfurt am Main since May 2023.

  56. Peter Stein

    Peter Stein
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1937-.. (age 89)
    Occupations
    theatrical directorfilm directoractorscreenwriter
    Biography

    Peter Stein is a German theatre and opera director who established himself at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, a company that he brought to the forefront of German theatre.

  57. Friedrich Pollock

    Friedrich Pollock
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1894-1970 (aged 76)
    Occupations
    economistphilosophersociologist
    Biography

    Friedrich Pollock was a German social scientist and philosopher. He was one of the founders of the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt am Main, and a member of the Frankfurt School of Marxist theory.

  58. Heinz Riesenhuber

    Heinz Riesenhuber
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1935-.. (age 91)
    Occupations
    politicianchemist
    Biography

    Heinz Friedrich Ruppert Riesenhuber is a German politician (CDU) who served as Minister of Scientific Research under Chancellor Helmut Kohl from 1982 to 1993.

  59. Negasso Gidada

    Negasso Gidada
    Born in
    Ethiopia Flag Ethiopia
    Years
    1943-2019 (aged 76)
    Occupations
    historianministerpolitician
    Biography

    Negasso Gidada Solon was an Ethiopian politician who was the president of Ethiopia from 1995 until 2001.

  60. Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul

    Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1942-.. (age 84)
    Occupations
    teacherpolitician
    Biography

    Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul is a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since 1965.

  61. Wolfgang Benz

    Wolfgang Benz
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1941-.. (age 85)
    Occupations
    historianopinion journalistuniversity teacherwriter
    Biography

    Wolfgang Benz is a German historian and antisemitism researcher. He was professor and the director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Technische Universität Berlin from 1990 to 2011. He is considered to be one of the most renowned and well-known historians in modern Germany, and one of the foremost scholars on antisemitism studies. He has been referred to as the "doyen" of antisemitism research.

  62. Joachim Kaiser

    Joachim Kaiser
    Born in
    Poland Flag Poland
    Years
    1928-2017 (aged 89)
    Occupations
    literary criticuniversity teacherwriterjournalistmusicologist
    Biography

    Joachim Kaiser was a German musicologist, critic, and journalist. He worked as a senior editor and cultural critic for the Süddeutsche Zeitung from 1959, contributing reviews and articles on music, literature, and theatre. From 1977 to 1996, he was a professor of music history at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart.

  63. Bodo Kirchhoff

    Bodo Kirchhoff
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1948-.. (age 78)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1979
    Occupations
    writerscreenwriter
    Biography

    Bodo Kirchhoff is a German writer and novelist. He was born in Hamburg before moving with his family to Kirchzarten in the Black Forest in 1955, which he describes as a culture shock. In addition to writing literary fiction, he has worked on various projects for German television, such as long-runner Tatort, and has written movie screenplays. One of his best-known novels is Infanta (1990), which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. In 2016, his novel, which features an African migrant in Italy, Encounter won the German Book Prize.

  64. Wilhelm Genazino

    Wilhelm Genazino
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1943-2018 (aged 75)
    Occupations
    essayistnovelistwriterjournalistplaywright
    Biography

    Wilhelm Genazino was a German journalist and author. He worked first as a journalist for the satirical magazine pardon and for Lesezeichen. From the early 1970s, he was a freelance writer who became known for a trilogy of novels, Abschaffel-Trilogie, completed in 1979. It was followed by more novels and two plays. Among his many awards is the prestigious Georg Büchner Prize.

  65. Saskia Bartusiak

    Saskia Bartusiak
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1982-.. (age 44)
    Occupations
    association football playerassociation football coach
    Biography

    Saskia Bartusiak is a German retired footballer. She played as a centre back.

  66. Katja von Garnier

    Katja von Garnier
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1966-.. (age 60)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1985-1989
    Occupations
    screenwriterdirectorfilm director
    Biography

    Katja von Garnier is a German film director.

  67. Pete Namlook

    Pete Namlook
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1960-2012 (aged 52)
    Occupations
    composerrecord producer
    Biography

    Peter Kuhlmann [ˈkuːlmaːn], known professionally as Pete Namlook ("Namlook" is "Koolman", a phonetic rendering of his real name spelled backwards) was a German ambient and electronic music producer and composer. One music commentator noted that Namlook was "... comfortably the most prolific and arguably the best of the new wave of ambient/house artists of the early 1990s". Namlook himself noted, "I think it's very important to enhance the notion of a global ambient movement, and to realize that a lot of music - which we didn't expect to be ambient is in fact very, very ambient. When you examine other cultures you discover that what we recognize as a very new movement is in fact incredibly ancient".

  68. Meşale Tolu

    Meşale Tolu
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1984-.. (age 42)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied ethics and Spanish
    Occupations
    journalist
    Biography

    Meşale Tolu Çorlu is a German journalist and translator of Kurdish descent. She was arrested in Turkey for allegations on spreading propaganda for an illegal organization and her membership in the organization.

  69. Cora Stephan

    Cora Stephan
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1951-.. (age 75)
    Occupations
    writertranslatorjournalist
    Biography

    Cora Stephan is a German-speaking writer and essayist.

  70. Alfred Schmidt

    Alfred Schmidt
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1931-2012 (aged 81)
    Occupations
    translatorphilosophersociologistuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Alfred Schmidt was a German philosopher.

  71. Wolfgang Bernhard

    Wolfgang Bernhard
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1960-.. (age 66)
    Occupations
    businessperson
    Biography

    Wolfgang Bernhard is a German business executive known as a former member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG. He served as the former President and COO of Chrysler from 2000 to 2004.

  72. Horst Ludwig Störmer

    Horst Ludwig Störmer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1949-.. (age 77)
    Occupations
    physicistuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Horst Ludwig Störmer is a German physicist, Nobel laureate and emeritus professor at Columbia University. He was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Daniel Tsui and Robert Laughlin "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations" (the fractional quantum Hall effect). He and Tsui were working at Bell Labs at the time of the experiment cited by the Nobel committee.

  73. Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt

    Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1901-1986 (aged 85)
    Occupations
    juristjudgepolitician
    Biography

    Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was Federal Minister of Health in the German Cabinet from 1961 to 1966, the first woman to hold a Ministerial position in Germany.

  74. Lorentzos Mavilis

    Lorentzos Mavilis
    Born in
    Greece Flag Greece
    Years
    1860-1912 (aged 52)
    Occupations
    chess playerchess composerpoettranslatorpolitician
    Biography

    Lorentzos Mavilis was a Greek sonneteer, war poet, and chess problems composer. He is best known for his sonnets.

  75. Katja Leikert

    Katja Leikert
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1975-.. (age 51)
    Occupations
    politicianpolitical scientist
    Biography

    Katja Isabel Leikert is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag (Germany's national parliament) since 2013, representing the Hanau electoral district. Within the CDU/CSU Bundestag Group, parliamentary colleagues elected her one of the alliance's eleven Bundestag deputy chairpersons in January 2018.

  76. Filiz Polat

    Filiz Polat
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1978-.. (age 48)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Filiz Polat is a German politician for the Alliance 90/The Greens.

  77. Otto Bayer

    Otto Bayer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1902-1982 (aged 80)
    Occupations
    engineerchemist
    Biography

    Otto Bayer was a German industrial chemist at IG Farben who was head of the research group that in 1937 discovered the polyaddition for the synthesis of polyurethanes out of poly-isocyanate and polyol.

  78. Ursula Lehr

    Ursula Lehr
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1930-2022 (aged 92)
    Occupations
    gerontologistpsychologistuniversity teacherpolitician
    Biography

    Ursula Lehr, née Leipold, was a German academic, age researcher and politician. She was the first professor of gerontology in Germany, with a chair at the University of Heidelberg from 1986. She served as federal minister of youth, family, women and health from 1988 to 1991. She was a member of the Bundestag from 1990 to 1994. Returning to science, she founded the German centre for research on aging (DZFA) of the University of Heidelberg in 1995, and was head of the German National Association of Senior Citizens' Organizations (BAGSO) from 2009 to 2015.

  79. Chaim Cohn

    Chaim Cohn
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1911-2002 (aged 91)
    Occupations
    pedagoguejuristuniversity teacheradvocatelawyer
    Biography

    Haim Herman Cohn was an Israeli jurist and politician.

  80. Freda Meissner-Blau

    Freda Meissner-Blau
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1927-2015 (aged 88)
    Occupations
    environmentalistpoliticianlecturerjournalistnurse
    Biography

    Freda Meissner-Blau was an Austrian politician, activist, and prominent figurehead in the Austrian environmental movement. She was a founder and the federal spokesperson of the Austrian Green Party.

  81. Žarko Puhovski

    Žarko Puhovski
    Born in
    Croatia Flag Croatia
    Years
    1946-.. (age 80)
    Occupations
    human rights defenderphilosopherpolitical scientistuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Žarko Puhovski is a Croatian professor, political analyst, philosopher and intellectual, former president of the Croatian Helsinki Committee.

  82. Michaela Noll

    Michaela Noll
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1959-.. (age 67)
    Occupations
    lawyerpolitician
    Biography

    Michaela Marion Noll is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2002 until 2021.

  83. Dan Diner

    Dan Diner
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1946-.. (age 80)
    Occupations
    historianwriteruniversity teacher
    Biography

    Dan Diner is an Israeli-German historian and political writer, born in Munich. He is emeritus professor of modern history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Diner is Chair of the Alfred Landecker Foundation and its Governing Council. Formerly he served as Director of the Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish history and Jewish culture, and professor at the historical seminary of the University of Leipzig. He is also a full member of the philological-historical class of the Saxon Academy of Sciences.

  84. Santiago Castro-Gómez

    Santiago Castro-Gómez
    Born in
    Colombia Flag Colombia
    Years
    1958-.. (age 68)
    Occupations
    university teacherphilosopherwriter
    Biography

    Santiago Castro-Gómez is a Colombian philosopher, a professor at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and the former director of the Pensar Institute in Bogotá.

  85. Silvia Bovenschen

    Silvia Bovenschen
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1946-2017 (aged 71)
    Occupations
    literary scholaressayistwriter
    Biography

    Silvia Bovenschen was a German feminist literary critic, author and essayist.

  86. Thomas Hettche

    Thomas Hettche
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1964-.. (age 62)
    Occupations
    germanistwritertranslatorliterary scholarnovelist
    Biography

    Thomas Hettche is a German author.

  87. Gerd Koenen

    Gerd Koenen
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1944-.. (age 82)
    Occupations
    opinion journalisthistorian of Modern Agewriterhistorianjournalist
    Biography

    Gerd Koenen is a German historian and former communist politician.

  88. Patrick Breyer

    Patrick Breyer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1977-.. (age 49)
    Occupations
    politicianjudge
    Biography

    Patrick Breyer is a German digital rights activist, jurist, Pirate Party Germany politician, and from 2019 to 2024, Member of the European Parliament (MEP). From 2012 to 2017 he was a member of the state parliament of Schleswig-Holstein and from April 2016 until the end of the legislative period he was also the leader of the Pirate group in that assembly. Breyer was one of four European Pirate Party MEPs in the 2019–2024 term along with three Czech Pirate Party members, all of whom are members of the Greens / EFA parliamentary group.

  89. Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd

    Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd
    Born in
    United Kingdom Flag United Kingdom
    Years
    1907-1997 (aged 90)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1931
    Occupations
    politicianuniversity teacherphysicistchemistbiochemist
    Biography

    Alexander Robertus Todd, Baron Todd was a British biochemist whose research on the structure and synthesis of nucleotides, nucleosides, and nucleotide coenzymes gained him the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1957.

  90. Ernst Lemmer

    Ernst Lemmer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1898-1970 (aged 72)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1923
    Occupations
    trade unionistfederal ministerjournalistcorrespondentminister
    Biography

    Ernst Lemmer was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and former member of the German Bundestag.

  91. Jan Costin Wagner

    Jan Costin Wagner
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1972-.. (age 54)
    Occupations
    writermusician
    Biography

    Jan Costin Wagner is a German crime fiction writer. His novels are set in Finland and feature detective Kimmo Joentaa.

  92. Friedwardt Winterberg

    Friedwardt Winterberg
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1929-.. (age 97)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    In 1953 graduated with Master of Science
    Occupations
    physicistuniversity teacher
    Biography

    Friedwardt Winterberg is a German-American theoretical physicist and was a research professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is known for his research in areas spanning general relativity, Planck scale physics, nuclear fusion, and plasmas. His work in nuclear rocket propulsion earned him the 1979 Hermann Oberth Gold Medal of the Wernher von Braun International Space Flight Foundation and a 1981 citation by the Nevada Legislature. He is also an honorary member of the German Aerospace Society Lilienthal-Oberth.

  93. Hans Matthöfer

    Hans Matthöfer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1925-2009 (aged 84)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Hans Hermann Matthöfer was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

  94. Albrecht Wellmer

    Albrecht Wellmer
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1933-2018 (aged 85)
    Occupations
    university teacherphilosophersociologist
    Biography

    Albrecht Wellmer was a German philosopher at the Freie Universität Berlin.

  95. Shelomo Dov Goitein

    Shelomo Dov Goitein
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1900-1985 (aged 85)
    Occupations
    arabistorientalistuniversity teachereducatorethnographer
    Biography

    Shelomo Dov Goitein was a German-Jewish ethnographer, historian and Arabist known for his research on Jewish life in the Islamic Middle Ages, and particularly on the Cairo Geniza.

  96. Tabea Rößner

    Tabea Rößner
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1966-.. (age 60)
    Occupations
    politician
    Biography

    Tabea Rößner is a German journalist and politician of Alliance 90/The Greens who served as a member of the Bundestag from 2009 to 2025. In 2019, she unsuccessfully ran as the Green Party's candidate for Mayor of Mainz.

  97. Hilde Mangold

    Hilde Mangold
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1898-1924 (aged 26)
    Occupations
    biologist
    Biography

    Hilde Mangold was a German embryologist who was best known for her 1923 dissertation which was the foundation for her mentor, Hans Spemann's, 1935 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the embryonic organizer, "one of the very few doctoral theses in biology that have directly resulted in the awarding of a Nobel Prize". The general effect she demonstrated is known as embryonic induction, that is, the capacity of some cells to direct the developmental trajectory of other cells, one of the first steps towards cloning. Induction remains a fundamental concept and area of ongoing research in the field.

  98. S. H. Foulkes

    S. H. Foulkes
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1898-1976 (aged 78)
    Occupations
    psychiatristpsychoanalyst
    Biography

    S. H. Foulkes was a German-British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. He developed a theory of group behaviour that led to his founding of group analysis, a variant of group therapy. He initiated the Group Analytic Society, and the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) in London. In 1933, owing to his Jewish and Welsh descent, Foulkes emigrated to England. In 1938, he was granted British citizenship and changed his name to S. H. Foulkes.

  99. Norbert Walter

    Norbert Walter
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1944-2012 (aged 68)
    Occupations
    university teachereconomistbanker
    Biography

    Norbert Walter was a German economist. He was the chief economist of Deutsche Bank from 1990 to 2009.

  100. Gerhard Hund

    Gerhard Hund
    Born in
    Germany Flag Germany
    Years
    1932-2024 (aged 92)
    Enrolled in the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main
    Studied in 1951-1955
    Occupations
    business informaticianWikimedianchess playermathematicianphotographer
    Biography

    Gerhard Friedrich Hund was a German chess player, mathematician and computer scientist.