100 Notable alumni of
University of Bonn
Updated:
The University of Bonn is 65th in the world, 23rd in Europe, and 6th in Germany by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Bonn sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 2 individuals affiliated with the University of Bonn won Nobel Prizes in Physics and Economics.
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Karl Marx
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied in 1835-1836
- Occupations
- writerhistoriansociologistpoetrevolutionary
- Biography
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Karl Marx was a German-born philosopher, economist, political theorist, historian, sociologist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His best-known works are the 1848 pamphlet The Communist Manifesto (with Friedrich Engels) and the three-volume Das Kapital (1867–1894); the latter employs his critical approach of historical materialism in an analysis of capitalism and represents his greatest intellectual achievement. Marx's ideas and theories and their subsequent development, collectively known as Marxism, have exerted enormous influence on modern intellectual, economic and political history.
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Friedrich Nietzsche
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied in 1864-1865
- Occupations
- writercomposerclassical scholarmusic criticphilosopher
- Biography
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Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a German philosopher. He began his career as a classical philologist before turning to philosophy. He became the youngest person to hold the Chair of Classical Philology at the University of Basel in 1869 at the age of 24, but resigned in 1879 due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889, at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and probably vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years in the care of his mother until her death in 1897 and then with his sister Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche. Nietzsche died in 1900, after experiencing pneumonia and multiple strokes.
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Wilhelm II
- Occupations
- statespersonpaintermonarchart collector
- Biography
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Wilhelm II was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire and the House of Hohenzollern's 300-year reign in Prussia and 500-year reign in Brandenburg.
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Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Occupations
- paintersingerorganistmusicianconductor
- Biography
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Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the husband of Queen Victoria. As such, he was consort of the British monarch from their marriage on 10 February 1840 until his death in 1861.
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Konrad Adenauer
- Occupations
- autobiographerassessorlawyerart collectorChancellor of Germany
- Biography
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Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman who served as the first chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the first leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a new founded Christian-democratic party, which became the dominant force in the country under his leadership.
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Frederick III, German Emperor
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Frederick III or Friedrich III was German Emperor and King of Prussia for 99 days between March and June 1888, during the Year of the Three Emperors. Known informally as "Fritz", he was the only son of Emperor Wilhelm I and was raised in his family's tradition of military service. Following the unification of Germany in 1871 his father, then King of Prussia, became German Emperor. Upon Wilhelm's death at the age of ninety on 9 March 1888, the thrones passed to Frederick, who had been German Crown Prince for seventeen years and Crown Prince of Prussia for twenty-seven years. Frederick was suffering from cancer of the larynx when he died, aged fifty-six, following unsuccessful medical treatments for his condition.
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Jürgen Habermas
- Occupations
- university teachersociologistphilosopher
- Biography
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Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher and social theorist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. His work addresses communicative rationality and the public sphere.
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Heinrich Heine
- Occupations
- publicistwriterpoet lawyeressayistliterary critic
- Biography
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Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Heine's later verse and prose are distinguished by their satirical wit and irony. He is considered a member of the Young Germany movement. His radical political views led to many of his works being banned by German authorities—which, however, only added to his fame. He spent the last 25 years of his life as an expatriate in Paris.
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Christian Lindner
- Occupations
- podcasterwriterpoliticianinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Christian Wolfgang Lindner is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as the Federal Minister of Finance since 8 December 2021. He has been the party leader of the FDP since 2013 and a Member of the Bundestag (MdB) for North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017, previously holding a seat from 2009 until 2012.
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Luigi Pirandello
- Occupations
- writerdirectorpoetplaywrightscreenwriter
- Biography
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Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power to turn psychological analysis into good theatre." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written in Sicilian. Pirandello's tragic farces are often seen as forerunners of the Theatre of the Absurd.
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Christian IX of Denmark
- Occupations
- military officermonarch
- Biography
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Christian IX was King of Denmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
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Armin Laschet
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Armin Laschet is a German politician who served as Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia from 27 June 2017 to 26 October 2021. He served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 22 January 2021 to 31 January 2022. He was elected to the German Bundestag following the 2021 German federal election.
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Max Ernst
- Occupations
- graphic artistpsychiatristprintmakerpoetpainter
- Biography
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Max Ernst was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic training, but his experimental attitude toward the making of art resulted in his invention of frottage—a technique that uses pencil rubbings of textured objects and relief surfaces to create images—and grattage, an analogous technique in which paint is scraped across canvas to reveal the imprints of the objects placed beneath. Ernst is noted for his unconventional drawing methods as well as for creating novels and pamphlets using the method of collages. He served as a soldier for four years during World War I, and this experience left him shocked, traumatised and critical of the modern world. During World War II he was designated an "undesirable foreigner" while living in France.
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Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
- Occupations
- military officerpolitician
- Biography
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Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia was the eldest child of the last Kaiser, Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, and thus a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, and distant cousin to many British Royals, such as Queen Elizabeth II. As Emperor Wilhelm's heir, he was the last Crown Prince of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, until the abolition of the monarchy.
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Friedrich Merz
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied jurisprudence
- Occupations
- lawyerpoliticianlobbyistGerichtsassessor
- Biography
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Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz is a German politician serving as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since 31 January 2022 and as leader of the Union parliamentary group as well as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag since 15 February 2022.
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Ferdinand von Schirach
- Occupations
- writerlawyer
- Biography
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Ferdinand Benedikt von Schirach is a German lawyer and writer. He published his first short stories at the age of forty-five. Shortly thereafter he became one of Germany's most successful authors. His books, which have been translated into more than 35 languages, have sold millions of copies worldwide and have made him "an internationally celebrated star of German literature."
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Guido Westerwelle
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- In 1987 graduated with Staatsexamen in legal science
- Occupations
- lawyerwriterpoliticianinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Guido Westerwelle was a German politician who served as foreign minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011, being the first openly gay person to hold any of these positions. He also led the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 2001 until he stepped down in 2011. A lawyer by profession, he was a member of the Bundestag from 1996 to 2013.
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Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
- Occupations
- painteraristocratmilitary officercomposermilitary commander
- Biography
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Ernest II was Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 29 January 1844 to his death in 1893. He was born in Coburg to Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. His father became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (as Ernest I) in 1826 through an exchange of territories.
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Oskar Lafontaine
- Occupations
- physicistpeace activistpoliticianopinion journalist
- Biography
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Oskar Lafontaine is a German politician. He served as Minister-President of the state of Saarland from 1985 to 1998, and was federal leader of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1995 to 1999. He was the lead candidate for the SPD in the 1990 German federal election, but lost by a wide margin. He served as Minister of Finance under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder after the SPD's victory in the 1998 federal election, but resigned from both the ministry and Bundestag less than six months later, positioning himself as a popular opponent of Schröder's policies in the tabloid press.
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Andrea Nahles
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Andrea Maria Nahles is a former German politician who has been the director of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) since 2022.
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Robert Schuman
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianlawyer
- Biography
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Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman was a Luxembourg-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian democrat (Popular Republican Movement) political thinker and activist. Twice Prime Minister of France, a reformist Minister of Finance and a Foreign Minister, he was instrumental in building postwar European and trans-Atlantic institutions and was one of the founders of the European Communities, the Council of Europe and NATO. The 1964–1965 academic year at the College of Europe was named in his honour. In 2021, Schuman was declared venerable by Pope Francis in recognition of his acting on Christian principles.
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Karlheinz Stockhausen
- Occupations
- university teachercomposermusic teachermusic theoristmusician
- Biography
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Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groundbreaking work in electronic music, having been called the "father of electronic music", for introducing controlled chance (aleatory techniques) into serial composition, and for musical spatialization.
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Bernhard Hoëcker
- Occupations
- film actornews presentertelevision actorcomedianactor
- Biography
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Bernhard Hoëcker is a German comedian, actor and television presenter. He is best known for the spoof show Switch, as well as being a permanent member of the previous Genial guessing team (2003–2011) Genial Daneben.
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Roger Willemsen
- Occupations
- writerlinguisttelevision presenterjournalistnews presenter
- Biography
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Roger Willemsen was a German author, essayist and TV presenter.
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Franz Boas
- Occupations
- university teacherlinguistanthropologistcuratorgeographer
- Biography
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Franz Uri Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the movements known as historical particularism and cultural relativism.
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Hans-Georg Maaßen
- Occupations
- university teacherjurist
- Biography
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Hans-Georg Maaßen is a German civil servant and lawyer. From 1 August 2012 to 8 November 2018, he served as the President of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic security agency and one of three agencies in the German Intelligence Community. Maaßen is one of the founders and, since January 2023 also president, of the Values Union, a German registered association that consists mostly of the members of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany seeking to reestablish their party's conservative roots.
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Harald Lesch
- Occupations
- television presenterphilosophernon-fiction writerastrophysicistphysicist
- Biography
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Harald Lesch is a German physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter, professor of physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and professor of natural philosophy at the Munich University of Philosophy.
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Theodor Schwann
- Occupations
- biologistuniversity teacherbotanistphysicianphysiologist
- Biography
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Theodor Schwann was a German physician and physiologist. His most significant contribution to biology is considered to be the extension of cell theory to animals. Other contributions include the discovery of Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, the discovery and study of pepsin, the discovery of the organic nature of yeast, and the invention of the term "metabolism".
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Justus von Liebig
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied in 1819
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacheragronomistinventorchemist
- Biography
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Justus Freiherr von Liebig was a German scientist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and is considered one of the principal founders of organic chemistry. As a professor at the University of Giessen, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the greatest chemistry teachers of all time. He has been described as the "father of the fertilizer industry" for his emphasis on nitrogen and trace minerals as essential plant nutrients, and his formulation of the law of the minimum, which described how plant growth relied on the scarcest nutrient resource, rather than the total amount of resources available. He also developed a manufacturing process for beef extracts, and with his consent a company, called Liebig Extract of Meat Company, was founded to exploit the concept; it later introduced the Oxo brand beef bouillon cube. He popularized an earlier invention for condensing vapors, which came to be known as the Liebig condenser.
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Bernd Lucke
- Occupations
- economistpoliticianuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Bernd Lucke is a German economist, professor, author and former politician. He was a co-founder of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in 2013 and served as the party's federal chairman. He was elected a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for AfD in 2014.
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Guðni Jóhannesson
- Occupations
- historiantranslatoruniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson is an Icelandic historian and politician who became the sixth president of Iceland in 2016. He was reelected in 2020 with 92.2% of the vote. On 1 January 2024, Guðni announced in his new year's address to the Icelandic people that he would not stand for election again in 2024.
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Thilo Sarrazin
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1967-1973 graduated with Doctor of Political Science in general economics
- Occupations
- non-fiction writereconomistbankerpoliticianessayist
- Biography
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Thilo Sarrazin is a German politician and former member of the SPD, writer, senator of finance for the State of Berlin from January 2002 until April 2009, former member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank until 2010.
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Hendrik Streeck
- Occupations
- physicianuniversity teachernon-fiction writervirologist
- Biography
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Hendrik Streeck is a German researcher of human immunodeficiency virus, epidemiologist and clinical trialist. He is professor of virology and the director of the Institute of Virology and HIV Research at the University Bonn.
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Norbert Röttgen
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerjurist
- Biography
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Norbert Alois Röttgen is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2009 to May 2012. From 2014 to 2021, he was Chair of the Bundestag Foreign Affairs Committee.
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Jürgen Todenhöfer
- Occupations
- juristopinion journalistwriterpoet lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Jürgen Todenhöfer is a German author, journalist, politician, and executive.
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Heinrich Brüning
- Occupations
- economisttrade unionistuniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Heinrich Aloysius Maria Elisabeth Brüning was a German Centre Party politician and academic, who served as the chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic from 1930 to 1932.
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Prince Wilhelm of Prussia
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Joseph Christian Olaf of Prussia was the eldest child of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. At his birth, he was second in line to the German throne and was expected to succeed to the throne after the deaths of his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm II, and his father, Crown Prince Wilhelm. Both, however, outlived him.
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Hermann Ebbinghaus
- Occupations
- university teacherpsychologistpedagogue
- Biography
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Hermann Ebbinghaus was a German psychologist who pioneered the experimental study of memory, and is known for his discovery of the forgetting curve and the spacing effect. He was also the first person to describe the learning curve. He was the father of the neo-Kantian philosopher Julius Ebbinghaus.
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Norbert Blüm
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianwriter
- Biography
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Norbert Blüm was a German politician who served as a federal legislator from North Rhine-Westphalia, chairman of the CDU North Rhine-Westphalia (1987–1999), and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.
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Peter Scholze
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Peter Scholze is a German mathematician known for his work in arithmetic geometry. He has been a professor at the University of Bonn since 2012 and director at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics since 2018. He has been called one of the leading mathematicians in the world. He won the Fields Medal in 2018, which is regarded as the highest professional honor in mathematics.
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Heinrich Lübke
- Occupations
- politicianengineer
- Biography
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Karl Heinrich Lübke was a German politician, who served as president of West Germany from 1959 to 1969.
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Max Bruch
- Occupations
- composerconductorteacher
- Biography
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Max Bruch was a German Romantic composer, violinist, teacher, and conductor who wrote more than 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a prominent staple of the standard violin repertoire.
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Ulrich Wickert
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1961-1968 studied political science and legal science
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teachernews presentertelevision presenterjournalist
- Biography
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Ulrich Wickert is a German journalist. He is one of the best-known broadcasters in Germany.
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James Robertson Justice
- Occupations
- character actorfilm actorornithologistice hockey playerjournalist
- Biography
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James Robertson Justice was an English actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the Doctor series. He also co-starred with Gregory Peck in several adventure movies, notably The Guns of Navarone. Born in south-east London to a Scottish father, he became prominent in Scottish public life, helping to launch Scottish Television (STV) and serving as Rector of the University of Edinburgh (1957–60 and 1963–66).
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Margie Kinsky
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Maria Grazia Alice Eleonora Kinsky-Mockridge, commonly known as Margie Kinsky, is an Italian actress and cabaret artist who works in Germany.
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Jacob Burckhardt
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1841-1841 studied art history and study of history
- Occupations
- authorhistorianuniversity teacherphilologistphilosopher
- Biography
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Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. He is known as one of the major progenitors of cultural history. Sigfried Giedion described Burckhardt's achievement in the following terms: "The great discoverer of the age of the Renaissance, he first showed how a period should be treated in its entirety, with regard not only for its painting, sculpture and architecture, but for the social institutions of its daily life as well."
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August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben
- Occupations
- writerchildren's writeruniversity teacherethnomusicologistcurator
- Biography
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August Heinrich Hoffmann was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", whose third stanza is now the national anthem of Germany, and a number of popular children's songs, considered part of the Young Germany movement.
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Karl Weierstraß
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1834-1838 studied jurisprudence and cameralism
- Occupations
- physicistmathematicianuniversity teacherteacher
- Biography
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Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a school teacher, eventually teaching mathematics, physics, botany and gymnastics. He later received an honorary doctorate and became professor of mathematics in Berlin.
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Gottfried Benn
- Occupations
- poetauthorphysicianphysician writeressayist
- Biography
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Gottfried Benn was a German poet, essayist, and physician. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times. He was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize in 1951.
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Ernst Albrecht
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ernst Carl Julius Albrecht was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union and a former high-ranking European civil servant. He was one of the first European civil servants appointed in 1958 and served as Director-General of the Directorate-General for Competition from 1967 to 1970. He served as Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony from 1976 to 1990. He was the father of the politician Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission.
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Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet was a German mathematician who made contributions to number theory (including creating the field of analytic number theory), and to the theory of Fourier series and other topics in mathematical analysis; he is credited with being one of the first mathematicians to give the modern formal definition of a function.
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Rudolf Scharping
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Rudolf Albert Scharping is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
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Rainer Woelki
- Occupations
- Catholic priestphilosophernon-fiction writerCatholic bishop
- Biography
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Rainer Maria Woelki is a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Cologne since his installation on 20 September 2014 following his election by the Cathedral Chapter to succeed Joachim Meisner in that position. He previously served as Archbishop of Berlin.
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Aby Warburg
- Occupations
- art historianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Aby Moritz Warburg, better known as Aby Warburg, was a German art historian and cultural theorist who founded the Kulturwissenschaftliche Bibliothek Warburg (Library for Cultural Studies), a private library, which was later moved to the Warburg Institute, London. At the heart of his research was the legacy of the classical world, and the transmission of classical representation, in the most varied areas of Western culture through to the Renaissance.
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Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
- Occupations
- university teacherprofessorphysicistchemiststereochemist
- Biography
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Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff Jr. was a Dutch physical chemist. A highly influential theoretical chemist of his time, van 't Hoff was the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His pioneering work helped found the modern theory of chemical affinity, chemical equilibrium, chemical kinetics, and chemical thermodynamics. In his 1874 pamphlet, van 't Hoff formulated the theory of the tetrahedral carbon atom and laid the foundations of stereochemistry. In 1875, he predicted the correct structures of allenes and cumulenes as well as their axial chirality. He is also widely considered one of the founders of physical chemistry as the discipline is known today.
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Clemens Brentano
- Occupations
- poetplaywrightwritercollector of fairy tales
- Biography
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Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano was a German poet and novelist, and a major figure of German Romanticism. He was the uncle, via his brother Christian, of Franz and Lujo Brentano.
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Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
- Occupations
- military personnelsoldierHerrenmeister
- Biography
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Prince Wilhelm Eitel Friedrich Christian Karl of Prussia was the second son of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. He was born and died in Potsdam, Germany.
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Sebastian Thrun
- Occupations
- computer scientistartificial intelligence researcheruniversity teacherinternational forum participantroboticist
- Biography
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Sebastian Thrun is a German-American entrepreneur, educator, and computer scientist. He is CEO of Kitty Hawk Corporation, and chairman and co-founder of Udacity. Before that, he was a Google VP and Fellow, a Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, and before that at Carnegie Mellon University. At Google, he founded Google X and Google's self-driving car team. He is also an adjunct professor at Stanford University and at Georgia Tech.
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Wolfgang Köhler
- Occupations
- university teacherpsychologistphilosopher
- Biography
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Wolfgang Köhler was a German psychologist and phenomenologist who, like Max Wertheimer and Kurt Koffka, contributed to the creation of Gestalt psychology.
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Alexander Graf Lambsdorff
- Occupations
- diplomathistorianpolitician
- Biography
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Alexander Sebastian Léonce Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, commonly known as Alexander Graf Lambsdorff is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP), part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, who has been serving as the German ambassador to Russia since 2023.
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G. Stanley Hall
- Occupations
- writeruniversity teacherpsychologistphilosopher
- Biography
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Granville Stanley Hall was a pioneering American psychologist and educator who earned the first doctorate in psychology awarded in the United States of America at Harvard College in the nineteenth century. His interests focused on human life span development and evolutionary theory. Hall was the first president of the American Psychological Association and the first president of Clark University. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Hall as the 72nd most cited psychologist of the 20th century, in a tie with Lewis Terman..
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Norbert Walter-Borjans
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Norbert Walter-Borjans is a German economist and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as co-leader of the SPD (alongside Saskia Esken) from 2019 to 2021. He served as State Minister of Finance of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2010 until 2017.
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Carl Schurz
- Occupations
- military officereditorrevolutionarywriterpolitician
- Biography
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Carl Schurz was a German revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He migrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent member of the new Republican Party. After serving as a Union general in the American Civil War, he helped found the short-lived Liberal Republican Party and became a prominent advocate of civil service reform. Schurz represented Missouri in the United States Senate and was the 13th United States Secretary of the Interior.
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Felix Klein
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Graduated with Doctor
- Occupations
- publisherpoliticianuniversity teacherhistorian of mathematicsmathematician
- Biography
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Felix Christian Klein was a German mathematician and mathematics educator, known for his work in group theory, complex analysis, non-Euclidean geometry, and the associations between geometry and group theory. His 1872 Erlangen program classified geometries by their basic symmetry groups and was an influential synthesis of much of the mathematics of the time.
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Marco Buschmann
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied jurisprudence
- Occupations
- politicianlawyerjurist
- Biography
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Marco Buschmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as Federal Minister of Justice in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet since 2021. He has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 to 2013 and again since 2017.
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Leah Goldberg
- Years
- 1911-1970 (aged 59)
- Occupations
- literary criticpoettranslatorplaywrightwriter
- Biography
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Leah Goldberg or Lea Goldberg was a prolific Hebrew-language poet, author, playwright, literary translator, illustrater and painter, and comparative literary researcher.
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Shary Reeves
- Occupations
- actortelevision presenterassociation football player
- Biography
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Shary Cheyenne Reeves is a German actress, television presenter and former professional football player.
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Klaus Kinkel
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Klaus Kinkel was a German statesman, civil servant, diplomat and lawyer who served as the minister of Foreign affairs (1992–1998) and the vice-chancellor of Germany (1993–1998) in the government of Helmut Kohl.
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Thomas Kemmerich
- Occupations
- politicianbusiness consultantjurist
- Biography
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Thomas Karl Leonard Kemmerich is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as the Minister-President of Thuringia from 5 February to 4 March 2020. With a tenure of only 28 days, he was both the shortest-serving Minister-President of Thuringia and the shortest-serving head of a state government in the Federal Republic of Germany.
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Markus Gabriel
- Occupations
- philosopheruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Markus Gabriel is a German philosopher and author at the University of Bonn. In addition to his more specialized work, he has also written popular books about philosophical issues.
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Wilhelm Marx
- Occupations
- judgepolitician
- Biography
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Wilhelm Marx was a German judge, politician and member of the Catholic Centre Party. During the Weimar Republic he was the chancellor of Germany twice, from 1923–1925 and 1926–1928, and served briefly as the minister president of Prussia in 1925. With a total of 3 years and 73 days, he was the longest-serving chancellor during the Weimar Republic.
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Navid Kermani
- Occupations
- orientalistwriteropinion journalist
- Biography
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Navid Kermani is a German writer and orientalist. He is the author of several novels as well as books and essays on Islam, the Middle East and Christian-Muslim dialogue. He has won numerous prizes for his literary and academic work, including the Peace Prize of the German Publishers' Association on 18 June 2015.
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Axel Honneth
- Occupations
- university teachersociologistphilosopher
- Biography
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Axel Honneth is a German philosopher who is the Professor for Social Philosophy at Goethe University Frankfurt and the Jack B. Weinstein Professor of the Humanities in the department of philosophy at Columbia University. He was also director of the Institut für Sozialforschung (Institute for Social Research) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany between 2001 and 2018.
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Otto Graf Lambsdorff
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Otto Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von der Wenge Graf Lambsdorff, known as Otto Graf Lambsdorff, was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP).
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Romano Guardini
- Occupations
- university teacherpresbyterCatholic priestwriterphilosopher
- Biography
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Romano Guardini was an Italian, naturalized German Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian.
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Margarethe Schreinemakers
- Occupations
- television presenterjournalist
- Biography
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Margarethe Schreinemakers is a German television presenter, talk show host and journalist.
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Maryna Viazovska
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- In 2013 graduated with doctor rerum naturalium
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Maryna Sergiivna Viazovska is a Ukrainian mathematician known for her work in sphere packing. She is a full professor and Chair of Number Theory at the Institute of Mathematics of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. She was awarded the Fields Medal in 2022.
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Daniel Lindemann
- Occupations
- film actor
- Biography
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Daniel Jakob Lindemann is a German who lives and performs in South Korea as a television personality and marketing manager. He was a cast member in the talk show Non-Summit.
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Emil Fischer
- Occupations
- biochemistuniversity teacherchemist
- Biography
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Hermann Emil Louis Fischer was a German chemist and 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fischer projection, a symbolic way of drawing asymmetric carbon atoms. He also hypothesized lock and key mechanism of enzyme action. He never used his first given name, and was known throughout his life simply as Emil Fischer.
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Leopold Kronecker
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied in 1843
- Occupations
- university teachermathematician
- Biography
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Leopold Kronecker was a German mathematician who worked on number theory, algebra and logic. He criticized Georg Cantor's work on set theory, and was quoted by Weber (1893) as having said, "Die ganzen Zahlen hat der liebe Gott gemacht, alles andere ist Menschenwerk" ("God made the integers, all else is the work of man"). Kronecker was a student and life-long friend of Ernst Kummer.
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Ju Gau-jeng
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ju Gau-jeng was a Taiwanese politician who served in the Legislative Yuan from 1987 to 1999. He was known for his combative personality, and helped found two political parties.
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Harald zur Hausen
- Occupations
- physicianuniversity teacheroncologistvirologist
- Biography
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Harald zur Hausen NAS EASA APS was a German virologist. He carried out research on cervical cancer and discovered the role of papilloma viruses in cervical cancer, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2008. He was chairman of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg.
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Nikolaus Blome
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1985-1989 studied history
- Occupations
- journalistwriterinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Nikolaus Blome is a German journalist.
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Barbara Hendricks
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1970-1976 graduated with Staatsexamen in history and social science
- Occupations
- politicianhistorian
- Biography
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Barbara Anne Hendricks is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018.
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Annette Schavan
- Occupations
- theologianpolitician
- Biography
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Annette Schavan is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). She was the Federal Minister of Education and Research in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2013, when she resigned following the revocation of her doctorate due to plagiarism. From 2014 until 2018 she served as the German Ambassador to the Holy See. From April 2018, she also briefly served as first German Ambassador to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
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Frederik Pleitgen
- Occupations
- actorjournalist
- Biography
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Frederik Pleitgen is a German journalist and correspondent for CNN International.
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Reinhard Genzel
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- In 1975 studied physics
- Occupations
- astronomerastrophysicistuniversity teacherscientist
- Biography
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Reinhard Genzel is a German astrophysicist, co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, a professor at LMU and an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy", which he shared with Andrea Ghez and Roger Penrose. In a 2021 interview given to Federal University of Pará in Brazil, Genzel recalls his journey as a physicist; the influence of his father, Ludwig Genzel; his experiences working with Charles H. Townes; and more.
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Alfred Weber
- Occupations
- economistuniversity teachersociologistpedagogue
- Biography
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Carl David Alfred Weber was a German economist, geographer, sociologist and theoretician of culture whose work was influential in the development of modern economic geography.
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Tom Enders
- Occupations
- business executiveentrepreneurinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Thomas Enders is a German business executive who served as the chief executive of Airbus (formerly EADS, Airbus Group) from 2012 until 2019. Since 2019, Thomas has been the president of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
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Bernd Stelter
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- Studied general economics
- Occupations
- writertelevision presenteractorpresentercomedian
- Biography
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Bernd Stelter is a German comedian, a writer and a television presenter.
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Moses Hess
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1837-1839 studied philosophy
- Occupations
- journalistwriterpoliticianphilosopher
- Biography
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Moses Hess (21 January 1812 – 6 April 1875) was a German-Jewish philosopher, early communist and Zionist thinker. His theories led to disagreements with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. He is considered a pioneer of Labor Zionism.
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Adolph Kolping
- Occupations
- theologianCatholic priestsocial activist
- Biography
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Adolph Kolping was a German Catholic priest and the founder of the Kolping Association. He led the movement for providing and promoting social support for workers in industrialized cities while also working to promote the dignities of workers in accordance with the social magisterium of the faith. He was called Gesellenvater (the Journeymen's Father).
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Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
- Occupations
- poetwriterpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880, Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India. He served as British Ambassador to France from 1887 to 1891.
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Jens Weidmann
- Occupations
- international forum participanteconomistchairpersonbankerpolitician
- Biography
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Jens Weidmann is a German economist who served as president of the Deutsche Bundesbank between 2011 and 2021. He also served as chairman of the Board of the Bank for International Settlements.
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Ulrich Kelber
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1987-1993 graduated with Diplom in computer science
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ulrich Wolfgang Kelber is a German former politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information since 7 January 2019. From 2000 to 2019, he was the member of the Bundestag for Bonn.
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Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden
- Occupations
- monarch
- Biography
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Frederick II was the last sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, reigning from 1907 until the abolition of the German monarchies in 1918. The Weimar-era state of Baden originated from the area of the Grand Duchy of Baden.
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Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia
- Occupations
- military officercareer soldier
- Biography
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Prince Friedrich Karl Nikolaus of Prussia was the son of Prince Charles of Prussia (1801–1883) and his wife, Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877). Prince Friedrich Karl was a grandson of King Frederick William III of Prussia and a nephew of Frederick William IV and William I.
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Paul Heyse
- Occupations
- translatorwriterpoetdrawerplaywright
- Biography
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Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse was a distinguished German writer and translator. A member of two important literary societies, the Tunnel über der Spree in Berlin and Die Krokodile in Munich, he wrote novels, poetry, 177 short stories, and about sixty dramas. The sum of Heyse's many and varied productions made him a dominant figure among German men of letters. He was awarded the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to the consummate artistry, permeated with idealism, which he has demonstrated during his long productive career as a lyric poet, dramatist, novelist and writer of world-renowned short stories." Wirsen, one of the Nobel judges, said that "Germany has not had a greater literary genius since Goethe." Heyse is the fifth oldest laureate in literature, after Alice Munro, Jaroslav Seifert, Theodor Mommsen and Doris Lessing.
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Wolfgang Ischinger
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- 1966-1972 studied legal science
- Occupations
- diplomatpoliticianuniversity teacherinternational forum participantjurist
- Biography
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Wolfgang Friedrich Ischinger is a German diplomat who served as chairman of the Munich Security Conference from 2008 to 2022.
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Tom Buhrow
- Enrolled in the University of Bonn
- In 1984 graduated with magister degree in history and legal science
- Occupations
- news presenterintendantediting stafftelevision presenter
- Biography
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Tom Buhrow is a German journalist who has been serving as intendant of the WDR since 2013. He also served as Chair of the ARD from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021 and from 4 August to 31 December 2022.
