Ferenc Krausz (*1962)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2023
Physicist Ferenc Krausz received the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics for the development of attosecond pulses of light. Using these pulses, he for the first time made it possible to directly observe electron motion in atoms. He also used them to study “tunneling,” a process in which an electron passes through an energy barrier that, according to classical physics, it should not be able to overcome—much like a ball seemingly passing through a wall. This understanding of ultrafast processes opens up new perspectives for electronics and medicine.
Krausz shared the prize with Anne L’Huillier of Lund University and Pierre Agostini of Ohio State University.
Svante Pääbo (*1955)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2022
Svante Pääbo won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for founding the field of paleogenetics and sequencing the Neanderthal genome. He was the first person to successfully isolate and analyze DNA from fossil remains, leading to fundamental insights into human evolution and the genetic mixing of early human populations. Beginning in 1990, Pääbo served as Professor of General Biology at LMU, where he carried out pivotal work on the analysis of ancient DNA and laid the foundation for his later scientific breakthrough.
Reinhard Genzel (*1952)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2020
Reinhard Genzel was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Roger Penrose and Andrea Ghez. Penrose was honored for verifying the theory that black holes are an inevitable consequence of general relativity, while Genzel and Ghez provided experimental evidence for the existence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Genzel is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching and has for many years been an honorary professor at LMU Munich, where he is closely involved in both research and teaching.
Joachim Frank (*1940)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2017
Joachim Frank received the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson for the development of cryo-electron microscopy, which enables high-resolution structural analysis of biomolecular complexes. Frank studied physics in Munich and completed a substantial part of his academic training at LMU, spending seven semesters here between 1963 and 1966 before earning his doctorate at the Technical University of Munich. The physical and methodological foundations he laid in Munich had a major influence on his later work in structural biology.
Wolfgang Ketterle (*1957)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2001
Wolfgang Ketterle studied physics at Heidelberg University and earned his doctorate in 1986 under Herbert Walther, who was then Professor of Experimental Physics at LMU and Director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching. Ketterle then returned to Heidelberg University, where he focused primarily on physical chemistry and conducted research into topics such as combustion engines. In 1990, Ketterle moved to the United States to join the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics together with Eric A. Cornell and Carl E. Wieman “for the production of Bose-Einstein condensates of dilute alkali-atom gases and for early fundamental studies of the properties of the condensates.”
Gerhard Ertl (*1936)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2007
Gerhard Ertl studied physics in Stuttgart, Paris, and at LMU in Munich. From 1973 to 1986, he conducted research and taught at LMU as Professor of Physical Chemistry. In 1986, he moved to Berlin to become Director of the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society.
Ertl received the Nobel Prize for elucidating important reactions on solid surfaces—i.e. catalytic processes. Key findings of his research were reached at LMU, including clarification of the chemical processes involved in the Haber-Bosch process, which supplies agriculture with nitrogen-based fertilizer. In this process, ammonia is produced from a mixture of hydrogen and nitrogen. Ertl was the first to decipher the underlying chemical mechanisms.
Edmund S. Phelps (1933-2026)
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 2006
The American economist received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his analysis of intertemporal trade-offs in macroeconomic policy.
In this context, he examined how economic policy measures can have different—and sometimes contradictory—short and long-term effects, particularly in the relationship between inflation and unemployment. In 1984, Phelps visited LMU at the invitation of economist Edwin von Böventer.
Theodor W. Hänsch (*1941)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 2005
Theodor W. Hänsch was presented with the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics together with American researcher John L. Hall. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored the two physicists for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, which makes it possible to determine the color of light emitted by atoms and molecules with extreme accuracy. The two researchers shared one half of the prize. The other half went to American physicist Roy J. Glauber, who also worked in the field of quantum optics.
Hänsch studied physics at Heidelberg University and earned his doctorate there in 1969. From 1975 to 1986, he was Professor of Physics at Stanford University in the United States before being appointed Chair of Experimental Physics at LMU and, at the same time, Director of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Munich. Since 2006, he has held an endowed professorship at LMU funded by the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation.
Günter Blobel (1936–2018)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1999
Thanks to his discovery of signal sequences that direct the selective transport of proteins within cells, Günter Blobel identified a fundamental principle of modern cell biology. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for this work. Blobel studied medicine in several places, including Munich, where he was enrolled at LMU in the winter semester of 1957/58.
Bert Sakmann (*1942)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1991
Bert Sakmann studied medicine at the University of Tübingen and at LMU, where he also passed his state medical examination in 1967. From 1968 to 1970, he completed his clinical training at the University of Munich Hospital. Sakmann earned his professorial qualification at the University of Göttingen in 1981 and later held professorships in Göttingen and at Heidelberg University, among other institutes. Since 2008, he has led a research group at the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried. In 1991, Sakmann received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Erwin Neher for the development of the patch-clamp technique, an electrophysiological method used to measure currents passing through cell membranes. From 1999 to 2007, Sakmann was also a member of LMU’s University Council.
Hartmut Michel (*1948)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1988
Hartmut Michel studied biochemistry from 1969 to 1975 at the University of Tübingen, LMU and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried. He earned his doctorate at the University of Würzburg in 1977 and his professorial qualification at LMU in 1986. At the same time, Michel worked as a research associate and research group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. Just two years after his habilitation, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Johann Deisenhofer and Robert Huber. They were honored for determining the three-dimensional molecular structure of the photosynthetic reaction center in the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis. Since 1987, Michel has been Director of Molecular Membrane Biology at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt/Main.
Gerd Binnig (*1947)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1986
Gerd Binnig, who earned his doctorate at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt/Main in 1978, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Heinrich Rohrer for the development of the scanning tunneling microscope. Both were working at IBM’s research laboratory in Zurich at the time. In the prizewinning method, an extremely fine tip scans an atomic surface. A constant distance between the tip and the surface is maintained by the so-called tunneling current, which flows between the tip and the sample when an electrical voltage is applied to both. Compared with the electron microscope, the scanning tunneling microscope is simpler and less prone to interference. Gerd Binnig has been an honorary professor at LMU since 1986.
Ernst Otto Fischer (1918–2007)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1973
Fischer began studying chemistry at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) in 1941/42 and completed his degree there in 1949. He earned his doctorate at the same university in 1952. In 1957, he became Associate Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at LMU. From 1959 to 1964, he held a personal chair at LMU—a professorship created specifically for him and not refilled after his retirement. Fischer conducted research in areas such as organometallic sandwich complexes, meaning main-group or transition-metal complexes containing two parallel, planar or cyclic organic ligands. According to the Nobel Committee, he did pioneering work in this field. He thus received the world’s most important research award in 1973 together with British chemist Geoffrey Wilkinson. From 1964 to 1985, Fischer was Full Professor at TUM.
Karl Ritter von Frisch (1886–1982)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1973
Karl Ritter von Frisch was one of Germany’s most important ethologists. In 1910, he joined LMU’s Zoological Institute, where he earned his professorial qualification two years later. After positions in Rostock and Breslau, he became Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at LMU in 1925. From 1946 to 1950 he worked in Graz, then returned to LMU, where he became professor emeritus in 1954 and continued to represent his own chair until 1958. He pursued his research intensively even after that.
His work focused primarily on the western honeybee, especially its sense of smell and taste and, above all, its ability to orient itself. He discovered, for example, that bees can maintain direction by using the sun as a compass.
He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Konrad Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907–1988) “for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behavior patterns.”
Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1973
Konrad Lorenz studied medicine in New York and Vienna and earned his doctorate in Vienna in 1928. Until his retirement in 1973, he headed the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen.
Lorenz is regarded as a founder of comparative ethology. Among other things, he demonstrated that animals possess a repertoire of innate behaviors with which they respond to specific stimuli or signals. When certain behavior patterns are irreversibly established only during narrowly defined phases of life, this is known as imprinting. Greylag goose chicks, for example, accept the first living creature they see after hatching as their mother—even if it is a human being. Lorenz also conducted similar experiments with jackdaws. From 1957 to 1989, Konrad Lorenz was an honorary professor at LMU.
The behavioral scientist was a member of the Nazi Party and identified with Nazi ideology and its racism. He was also involved in racial science experiments conducted by the Wehrmacht. Lorenz never distanced himself from the ideological positions he held during what became known as the “Third Reich.”
Odd Hassel (1897–1981)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1969
Norwegian chemist Odd Hassel and British chemist Derek H. R. Barton were awarded the Nobel Prize for their work on developing the concept of conformation and its application in chemistry. Hassel completed a study and research stay at LMU during the winter semester of 1922/23 and the summer semester of 1923, working, for example, in the laboratory of chemist Kasimir Fajans and gaining valuable experience in experimental research.
Hans Bethe (1906–2005)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1967
Hans Bethe studied at LMU from 1926 to 1928 under Arnold Sommerfeld, who also supervised his doctorate in 1928. After brief periods in Frankfurt and Stuttgart, Bethe returned to LMU, where he earned his professorial qualification in 1930 and worked as a private lecturer until 1933. During this time, he continued to collaborate with Sommerfeld. After the Nazis came to power, Bethe, who was classified as a “half-Jew,” left Germany via England and ultimately moved to Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1935. He remained there for the rest of his life. Bethe was also involved in the development of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, although in later years he distanced himself from nuclear armament and advocated the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
His research on the energy production of the sun and stars laid an important foundation for modern astrophysics. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967.
Haldan Keffer Hartline (1903–1983)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1967
Haldan Keffer Hartline was awarded the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Ragnar Granit and George Wald. Hartline was honored for fundamental discoveries surrounding the physiological processes of vision. By conducting experiments on the retina, he showed how nerve cells in the eye respond to light stimuli and how contrast is enhanced through so-called lateral inhibition—a central contribution to understanding the neural processing of visual information.
Hartline studied at LMU Munich during the summer semester of 1930 and the winter semester of 1930/31, attending lectures by eminent theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld. The grounding in physics he acquired here influenced his later neurophysiological research.
Feodor Lynen (1911–1979)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1964
Feodor Lynen was a student of Heinrich Wieland at LMU, where he studied chemistry. He earned his professorial qualification at LMU in 1942 and became Associate Professor of Biochemistry there in 1947, followed by a full professorship in 1953. His work on metabolic processes, especially the breakdown of fatty acids in the body, provided important impetus for the study and treatment of metabolic diseases. The biochemist won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with German-American researcher Konrad Bloch (1912–2000) for their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of cholesterol and fatty-acid metabolism. He remained loyal to Munich and to LMU, where he was Full Professor until his retirement in 1979. He even declined an appointment at Harvard University.
Linus Carl Pauling (1901–1994)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1954 / Nobel Peace Prize, 1962
Linus Carl Pauling was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his fundamental research into the nature of chemical bonding and the structure of molecules. His work brought quantum mechanics together with chemistry and had a lasting impact on the understanding of molecular structure. During a stay in Europe funded by a fellowship from the Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Pauling also conducted research in 1926 at LMU’s Institute of Theoretical Physics at the invitation of physicist Arnold Sommerfeld. Here, he came into contact with the latest developments in quantum mechanics.
In addition to his scientific achievements, Pauling was deeply committed to opposing nuclear weapons and advocating international disarmament. For this work, he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962, making him one of the few laureates to have received two Nobel Prizes.
Fritz Albert Lipmann (1899–1986)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1953
Fritz Albert Lipmann was presented with the 1953 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of coenzyme A and its central role in cellular metabolism. He shared the prize with Hans Adolf Krebs. Lipmann studied medicine, including a stint at LMU in the summer semester of 1920.
In 1933, Lipmann, a Jewish scientist, was forced out of the German academic system. He emigrated first to Denmark and later to the United States.
Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1953
Hermann Staudinger received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work in macromolecular chemistry, which laid the foundation for modern polymer science. His research fundamentally changed the understanding of plastics and biological macromolecules. He studied at LMU during the summer semester of 1900 and the winter semester of 1900/1901.
Hans Adolf Krebs (1900–1981)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1953
Hans Adolf Krebs received the 1953 Nobel Prize for his discovery of the citric acid cycle, a central metabolic pathway in cellular respiration. He shared the prize with Fritz Albert Lipmann. Krebs spent two semesters of his medical studies at LMU—the winter semester of 1921/22 and the summer semester of 1922—during a course of study that lasted from 1918 to 1923.
In 1933, Krebs, a Jewish scientist, was first placed on leave and then dismissed. He subsequently fled to England, where he successfully continued his scientific career.
Wendell Meredith Stanley (1904–1971)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1946
Stanley received the Nobel Prize together with John H. Northrop. The two scientists were honored for their achievements in preparing enzymes and virus proteins in pure form.
In 1930, Stanley was a lecturer at the University of Illinois and received a National Research Council fellowship in chemistry, which he used to work with Heinrich Wieland in Munich during the 1930-31 academic year. His work at Wieland’s institute focused on characterizing sterols in yeast.
Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1945
Wolfgang Pauli began studying physics at LMU under Arnold Sommerfeld in 1919 and completed his studies with a doctorate as early as 1921. He then held positions at the universities of Göttingen, Copenhagen, Princeton and finally—after World War II—ETH Zurich. Pauli conducted research primarily in quantum mechanics. In 1945, while working at Princeton University in the United States, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering the exclusion principle, now known as the “Pauli principle.” The principle provides a quantum-theoretical explanation of the structure of the atom. It states that no two electrons in an atom can have identical values for all quantum numbers. Wolfgang Pauli was also involved in the founding of CERN in Geneva.
Otto Hahn (1879–1968)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1944
Otto Hahn received the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the fission of heavy atomic nuclei, a core tenet of nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics. During his studies, he spent his second year at LMU in Munich—the summer semester of 1898 and the winter semester of 1898/99. Although Hahn was not a member of any National Socialist organizations, his research on nuclear fission was indirectly connected to German efforts to build an atomic bomb.
Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1944
After earning his PhD at Columbia University in 1926, physicist Isidor Rabi undertook a research trip to Europe, where he also spent time conducting research with Arnold Sommerfeld at LMU’s Institute of Theoretical Physics.
In 1944, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the magnetic resonance method, which enabled much more reliable experimental measurements of nuclear spin. This method developed into an important field of research and laid the foundation for the medical diagnostic technology known as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Adolf Butenandt (1903–1995)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1939
The 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Adolf Butenandt. He was honored for his research on sex hormones and shared the award with Leopold Ruzicka, who was conducting research at ETH Zurich. Butenandt studied chemistry and biology in Marburg and then moved to Göttingen, where he earned his doctorate. He earned his professorial qualification in Göttingen in 1931 and served as Professor at the Technical University of Darmstadt from 1933 to 1936. Beginning in 1936, he was Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biochemistry in Berlin, which was involved in the development of chemical warfare agents during World War II.
In 1952, Butenandt joined LMU’s Institute of Physiological Medicine, which today bears his name. From 1955 until he took office as President of the Max Planck Society in 1960, he simultaneously served as head of LMU’s Institute of Physiological Chemistry and Director of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. An additional chair in Physiological Chemistry was created specifically for him, and he held it until his retirement. His role during the Nazi era remains controversial. Butenandt, a member of the Nazi Party, contributed, among other things, to the journal Der Biologe, which was published by the SS research organization Deutsches Ahnenerbe.
Richard Kuhn (1900–1967)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1938
Kuhn first studied chemistry in Vienna and later with Richard Willstätter at LMU, where he completed his doctorate in 1922. Before accepting a position at ETH Zurich, Kuhn worked as a private lecturer at LMU from 1925 to 1926, after earning his professorial qualification. His work focused primarily on theoretical problems in organic chemistry as well as biochemistry.
He received the 1938 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on carotenoids and vitamins. At the time, he was conducting research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Although he was a National Socialist, he was not permitted to accept the prize.
During World War II, Kuhn was primarily involved in the development of chemical warfare agents. In collaboration with Konrad Henkel, he helped develop the poison gas soman. In 1936, Kuhn denounced three Jewish employees of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute.
The Richard Kuhn Medal, established by BASF in 1968 and awarded by the German Chemical Society (GDCh), has not been awarded since 2005 because of Kuhn’s conduct during the National Socialist period.
Peter Debye (1884–1966)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1936
Dutch scientist Peter Debye studied physics at RWTH Aachen University, where he also worked as an assistant in technical mechanics. He then followed his Aachen teacher Arnold Sommerfeld when the latter moved to LMU in 1906. Two years later, Debye earned his doctorate under Sommerfeld, and in 1910, while serving as Sommerfeld’s assistant, he earned his professorial qualification. From 1910 to 1911, Debye served as a private lecturer at LMU. In 1911, he became Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Zurich. His scientific achievements included work in quantum physics, X-ray structural analysis and the microwave spectroscopy of liquids. In 1936, Debye received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of molecular structures and dipole moments, as well as for determining the molecular structure of substances using X-ray diffraction. At the time, he was Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin.
Otto Loewi (1873–1961)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1936
Otto Loewi received the 1936 Nobel Prize together with Henry H. Dale for proving that nerve impulses are transmitted chemically—a discovery that identified acetylcholine, then known as Vagusstoff, as the first neurotransmitter. At the beginning of his medical studies, Loewi completed a period of study at LMU in Munich during the winter semester of 1893/94 and the summer semester of 1894 before moving to Strasbourg, where he earned his doctorate. As a Jewish scientist, Loewi was persecuted by the National Socialists after the Anschluss of Austria in 1938. He was briefly imprisoned and forced to emigrate. He later continued his research in the United States.
Hans Spemann (1869–1941)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1935
Hans Spemann received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering what became known as the organizer effect, which shows that certain regions of the embryo direct the development of neighboring cells.
Spemann initially studied medicine in Heidelberg and completed a period of study at LMU in Munich during the winter semester of 1893/94. He then moved to Würzburg, where he earned his doctorate in 1895 and his professorial qualification in 1898. His most seminal scientific work came later, while he was a professor in Rostock and Freiburg.
Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1932
Werner Heisenberg began studying physics at LMU in 1920, where his father was Professor of Byzantine Studies. Supported by a scholarship from the Maximilianeum Foundation, he studied under Arnold Sommerfeld, who encouraged him. His teachers included Wilhelm Wien and Arnold Sommerfeld. Heisenberg later studied in Göttingen, but earned his doctorate at LMU in 1923. He earned his professorial qualification in Göttingen and eventually moved to Copenhagen. From 1927 to 1941, Heisenberg was Professor in Leipzig. Because of a certain reserve toward National Socialism, he was not appointed to the Chair of Physics at LMU in 1936. Beginning in 1941, he served as Professor at the University of Berlin and Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. Heisenberg played a major role in the so-called Uranium Project, the German nuclear weapons program.
At the age of just 31, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics “for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has led, among other things, to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen,” as the citation stated. Heisenberg’s name is also associated with the uncertainty principle that was named after him. He had already published his theory of quantum mechanics in 1925, when he was 24 years old.
Beginning in 1955, Heisenberg prepared the relocation of the Max Planck Institute for Physics from Göttingen to Munich. As its Director, he too moved to Munich, where he also served as an honorary professor at LMU from 1959 until his death in 1976. Heisenberg was one of the signatories of the Göttingen Declaration of 1957, in which 18 renowned nuclear scientists advocated the exclusively peaceful use of nuclear energy and opposed equipping the German armed forces with nuclear weapons.
Hans Fischer (1881–1945)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1930
Hans Fischer initially studied chemistry and medicine in Lausanne and Marburg, earning a doctorate in chemistry in 1904. He then moved to Munich to work with the renowned internist Friedrich von Müller, where he was able to apply his chemical expertise, and earned a medical doctorate there in 1908. After returning to Munich from a study period in Berlin in 1911, Fischer earned his professorial qualification in internal medicine in 1912 and worked at the Second Medical Clinic as a private lecturer and, from 1915, as Associate Professor of Physiology. After professorships in Innsbruck and Vienna, he returned unexpectedly to Munich in 1922—this time as successor to Heinrich Wieland in the Chair of Organic Chemistry at the Technical University of Munich, now TUM.
Fischer’s scientific work focused primarily on the properties of pigments in blood, bile and plants. He succeeded in synthesizing hemin, a complex porphyrin compound with an iron atom at its center. For this work, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 while serving as a professor at the Technical University. After the destruction of his Munich laboratory during World War II, which deprived him of the basis for his research, Fischer died by suicide in 1945.
Karl Landsteiner (1868–1943)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1930
Karl Landsteiner received the 1930 Nobel Prize for discovering the ABO blood group system, which made safe blood transfusions possible for the first time. Landsteiner studied medicine in Vienna, where he also earned his doctorate, as well as chemistry, including at LMU during the summer semester of 1892 and the winter semester of 1892/93. As a Jewish scientist, Landsteiner became a victim of the Nazi regime. He emigrated to the United States, where he continued his research at the Rockefeller Institute.
Hans von Euler-Chelpin (1873–1964)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1929
Hans von Euler-Chelpin was awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his fundamental work on the chemical nature of fermentation and the role of enzymes. He shared the award with British chemist Arthur Harden. Euler-Chelpin was continuously enrolled in chemistry at LMU from the winter semester of 1891/92 through the summer semester of 1893. He then moved to Berlin, where he earned his doctorate in 1895. The researcher, who worked mainly in Sweden from the late 19th century onward, showed a clear political affinity for National Socialism. He sympathized with ideological positions of the Nazi Party and supported its racial doctrine.
Thomas Mann (1875–1955)
Nobel Prize in Literature, 1929
Writer Thomas Mann, who received the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature primarily for his novel Buddenbrooks, had close ties to Munich. At LMU, he attended lectures in history, economics and literature and was a guest at numerous academic events. He also gave lectures at the university. He was neither enrolled at LMU nor a member of its teaching staff.
Today, a bust and a commemorative plaque in the hall named after him in the north wing of LMU’s main building honor the writer.
Heinrich Wieland (1877–1957)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1927
Heinrich Wieland succeeded Richard Willstätter at LMU’s Chemical Institute in 1925. Wieland not only studied at LMU, he also earned his doctorate there in 1901 and his professorial qualification in 1905. In 1925, he was appointed Full Professor at LMU. Wieland received the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the composition of bile acids and related substances. Because his research was classified as important to the war effort, several attempts to denounce him during the Nazi dictatorship came to nothing. He was also able to take several so-called “half-Jews” into his research group as guests, thereby protecting them from persecution by state authorities. One example was the later politician Hildegard Hamm-Brücher. He also intervened—unfortunately without success—on behalf of his student Hans Leipelt when Leipelt was tried and sentenced to death for his membership of the White Rose resistance group.
Gustav Hertz (1887–1975)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1925
Gustav Hertz received the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics together with James Franck for the Franck-Hertz experiment, which provided the first experimental proof of the existence of discrete energy states in atoms—a fundamental contribution to the development of quantum physics.
Hertz studied mathematics at LMU during the summer semester of 1907.
During the National Socialist period, Gustav Hertz was forced out of academic service and dispossessed because of his family background.
Richard Adolf Zsigmondy (1865–1929)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1925
Richard Adolf Zsigmondy was presented with the 1925 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his fundamental work in colloid chemistry and for developing the ultramicroscope, which made it possible for the first time to observe extremely fine particles.
Zsigmondy studied chemistry at LMU during the winter semester of 1887/88 and the summer semester of 1888.
His pioneering research that ultimately led to the Nobel Prize, however, was carried out after his time in Munich at other scientific institutions.
Johannes Stark (1874–1957)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1919
Johannes Stark studied physics, mathematics, chemistry and other subjects at LMU, earning his doctorate in 1897 under Eugen von Lommel, for whom he continued to work as an assistant until 1900. He later earned his professorial qualification in Göttingen and taught there, as well as in Hanover, Aachen and Würzburg, until 1922. Stark received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919, while he was at the University of Greifswald. He was honored for discovering the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields.
Stark was a co-founder and representative of the so-called German Physics movement, which, during the National Socialist period, attacked modern physics shaped by relativity theory and quantum mechanics and promoted experimental physics instead. Evidence shows that Stark put forward the antisemitic claim that Jewish physicists in particular had detached themselves from experiment as the basis of fact, and that their theories rested merely on thought experiments. After World War II, Stark was initially classified as a major offender in denazification proceedings, but was later reclassified as a “follower.”
Max Planck (1858–1947)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1918
In 1874, Max Planck enrolled at LMU to study mathematics and natural sciences. He spent one year studying in Berlin at Friedrich Wilhelm University, now Humboldt University, before returning to LMU, where he earned his doctorate in 1879 and his professorial qualification in 1880. He then worked as a private lecturer at LMU from 1880 to 1885. Planck subsequently moved to Kiel, where he served as Associate Professor at the university until 1889. He was then appointed to Friedrich Wilhelm University, where he remained until his retirement in 1926.
He became President of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science, whose successor organization has borne his name since 1948, and held that office until 1937. Max Planck is regarded as the founder of quantum theory, which decisively advanced physics and made it a foundational discipline of the natural sciences. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for this work in 1918.
Richard Willstätter (1872–1942)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1915
Richard Willstätter studied chemistry at LMU under Adolf von Baeyer and earned his doctorate there in 1894 with a dissertation written under Alfred Einhorn. Two years later, he also earned his professorial qualification at LMU. In 1902, Willstätter became Associate Professor, and in 1905 Full Professor, of Chemistry at ETH Zurich. In 1915, he accepted an appointment as Full Professor at LMU. Almost at the same time, he received the Nobel Prize. The prize honored his studies of plant pigments, especially chlorophyll—the key pigment in plant photosynthesis. He was also able to show that this green pigment, which enables plants to convert light energy, contains magnesium. Willstätter resigned as Full Professor in 1925 in protest against the growing antisemitic climate at LMU. He continued to conduct research in Munich for a time, but emigrated to Switzerland in 1939 under pressure from the Gestapo.
Max von Laue (1879–1960)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1914
Max von Laue studied mathematics, physics, and chemistry in Strasbourg. After periods at universities including Göttingen and Berlin, he earned his professorial qualification at LMU in 1909 and, until 1912, taught on optics, thermodynamics and relativity theory as a private lecturer. In Munich, he achieved two breakthroughs through the diffraction of X-rays by crystals: He demonstrated both the wave nature of X-rays and the periodic lattice structure of crystalline substances. For this work, he received the Nobel Prize in 1914. In 1912, he moved to the University of Zurich, and in 1914 to Frankfurt/Main. In 1919, von Laue was appointed to the University of Berlin and became Deputy Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics. After 1933, he defended Einstein’s defamed “Jewish physics.” From 1946, he served as Deputy Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Göttingen, and in 1951 he took over the leadership of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry—the present-day Fritz Haber Institute—in Berlin.
Wilhelm Wien (1864–1928)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1911
The 1911 Nobel Prize in Physics went to Wilhelm Wien, who was honored for his research into the laws of thermal radiation. The impetus for this research was the primarily economic question of whether gas or electric lighting was more cost-effective. Wien began taking radiation measurements that, in 1896, resulted in a formula accurately describing large portions of the measured values.
Wien received the Nobel Prize while working at the University of Würzburg. In 1920, he moved to Munich and joined LMU, where, as he had previously done in Würzburg, he succeeded Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen. Wilhelm Wien also served as Rector of LMU from 1925 to 1926.
Paul Heyse (1830–1914)
Nobel Prize in Literature, 1910
Paul Heyse was a German writer associated with Realism. He received the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature as a tribute to the consummate artistry, imbued with idealism, that he demonstrated over the course of his long and productive career as a poet, dramatist, novelist and author of world-famous short stories. His work had a major influence on Munich’s literary life. From 1854 onward, Heyse lived in Munich, and that same year King Maximilian II of Bavaria granted him the right to lecture in Romance Philology at LMU, although he never exercised this right.
Eduard Buchner (1860–1917)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1907
Buchner studied organic chemistry at LMU under Adolf von Baeyer, as well as botany under Carl von Nägeli, and physics. In 1888, he earned his doctorate at LMU as a student of Baeyer and Theodor Curtius. He qualified as a professor at LMU in 1891 and worked there as a private lecturer until 1893.
With the support of his brother Hans, a physician and bacteriologist at LMU, Buchner began conducting research at the Botanical Institute into yeast fungi and the influence of oxygen on fermentation processes. This research was repeatedly interrupted, for example by stays at the universities of Kiel and Tübingen, where Buchner worked as an adjunct professor.
In 1896, during a vacation stay in Munich, Buchner successfully resumed his research on yeast cells at LMU’s Institute of Hygiene. One year later, his paper “On Alcoholic Fermentation without Yeast Cells” was published. In 1907, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work. At the time, Buchner was Full Professor of Chemistry at the Agricultural University of Berlin.
Adolf von Baeyer (1835–1917)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1905
Adolf von Baeyer won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1905. He was honored above all for the synthesis of indigo and triphenylmethane dyes. After the death of Justus von Liebig, Baeyer was appointed to LMU in 1873, where he built a highly respected chemical laboratory and worked until his retirement. Since 1911, the German Chemical Society has awarded the Adolf von Baeyer Memorial Medal, established in 1910 by Carl Duisberg, to chemists for outstanding research achievements and discoveries. Numerous other Nobel laureates emerged from Baeyer’s school.
Emil Fischer (1852–1919)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1902
Emil Fischer began studying chemistry in Bonn in 1871. In 1872, he moved to Strasbourg, where he met Adolf von Baeyer, whom he followed to LMU in 1875. Fischer earned his professorial qualification in 1878 and became Associate Professor of Analytical Chemistry at LMU in 1879. Alongside von Baeyer, he was regarded as one of the leading researchers in this field. In 1882, he accepted an appointment in Erlangen, followed by Würzburg in 1885 and Berlin in 1892.
At LMU, Fischer discovered phenylhydrazine, which is used, for example, in the production of agricultural chemicals, dyes and pharmaceuticals, and also serves as a reagent for detecting aldehydes and ketones. This substance played an important role in his later research as well. Fischer also conducted research into compounds of urea, sugars, amino acids, proteins and their synthesis. For his groundbreaking work on sugar and purine syntheses, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1902 while working at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, today’s Humboldt University.
Conrad Röntgen (1845–1923)
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1901
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen completed a technical degree at ETH Zurich and then pursued advanced studies in physics, earning his doctorate in 1869. He earned his professorial qualification at the University of Strasbourg. In 1900, he was appointed to LMU. One year later, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. He was the first scientist to receive the award in this discipline. Röntgen was honored primarily for his research on the X-rays he had discovered and which were later named after him (in German). This discovery, made in 1895 while he was working at the University of Würzburg, opened up entirely new possibilities in medical diagnostics and paved the way for further important discoveries and research, including the discovery of radioactivity. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen remained Professor at LMU until his retirement in 1920.
