1472–1800 The university was founded with papal blessing in 1472 as the
University of Ingolstadt (foundation right of
Louis IX the Rich), with faculties of philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence and theology. Its first rector was
Christopher Mendel of Steinfels, who later became
bishop of Chiemsee. In the period of
German humanism, the university's academics included names such as
Conrad Celtes and
Petrus Apianus. The theologian
Johann Eck also taught at the university. From 1549 to 1773, the university was influenced by the
Jesuits and became one of the centres of the
Counter-Reformation. The Jesuit
Petrus Canisius served as rector of the university. At the end of the 18th century, the university was influenced by the
Enlightenment, which led to a stronger emphasis on
natural science.
1800–1933 , after whom the University of Munich was renamed in 1802 ,
Emil Fischer,
Jacob Volhard and other chemists at LMU in 1877 In 1800, the Prince-Elector Maximilian IV Joseph (the later
Maximilian I, King of
Bavaria) moved the university to
Landshut, due to French aggression that threatened Ingolstadt during the
Napoleonic Wars. In 1802, the university was renamed the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in honour of its two founders,
Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria and
Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria. The Minister of Education,
Maximilian von Montgelas, initiated a number of reforms that sought to modernize the rather conservative and Jesuit-influenced university. In 1826, it was moved to
Munich, the capital of the
Kingdom of Bavaria. The university was situated in the
Old Academy until a new building in the
Ludwigstraße was completed. The locals were somewhat critical of the number of Protestant professors Maximilian and later Ludwig I invited to Munich. They were dubbed the "Nordlichter" (northern lights), and especially physician
Johann Nepomuk von Ringseis was quite angry about them. In the second half of the 19th century, the university rose to great prominence in the European scientific community, attracting many of the global leading scientists. It was also a period of great expansion. From 1903, women were allowed to study at Bavarian universities, and by 1918, the female proportion of students at LMU had reached 18%. In 1918,
Adele Hartmann became with her
habilitation (higher doctorate) at this university the first woman in Germany to earn a habilitation. During the
Weimar Republic, the university continued to be one of the world's leading universities, with professors such as
Wilhelm Röntgen,
Wilhelm Wien,
Richard Willstätter,
Arnold Sommerfeld and
Ferdinand Sauerbruch.
1933–1945 During the
Third Reich, academic freedom was severely curtailed. In 1943, the
White Rose group, consisting of anti-Nazi students, carried out a campaign opposing the National Socialists at this institution. The university subsequently removed Kurt Huber, a Nazi opposition fighter, from his position and revoked his doctorate upon his arrest. Between 1933 and 1936,
Karl Escherich served as rector at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, followed by
Leopold Kölbl from 1936 to 1938,
Philipp Broemser from 1938 to 1941, and finally,
Walther Wüst from 1941 to 1945.
1945–present The university has continued to be one of the leading universities of
West Germany during the
Cold War and in the post-reunification era. In the late 1960s, the university was the scene of protests by radical students. Today, LMU Munich is part of 24 Collaborative Research Centers funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and is host university of 13 of them. It also hosts 12 DFG Research Training Groups and three international doctorate programs as part of the Elite Network of Bavaria, an educational policy concept of
Bavaria for the promotion of gifted pupils and students in the higher education sector. It attracts an additional 120 million euros per year in outside funding and is intensively involved in national and international funding initiatives. LMU Munich has a wide range of degree programs, with 150 subjects available in numerous combinations. 15% of the 45,000 students who attend the university come from abroad. In 2005, Germany's state and federal governments launched the
German Universities Excellence Initiative, a contest among its universities. With a total of 1.9 billion euros, 75 percent of which comes from the federal state, its architects aim to strategically promote top-level research and scholarship. The money is given to more than 30 research universities in Germany. The initiative will fund three project-oriented areas: graduate schools to promote the next generation of scholars, clusters of excellence to promote cutting-edge research, and "future concepts" for the project-based expansion of academic excellence at universities as a whole. In order to qualify for this third area, a university had to have at least one internationally recognized academic
center of excellence and a new graduate school. After the first round of selections, LMU Munich was invited to submit applications for all three funding lines. It entered the competition with proposals for two graduate schools and four clusters of excellence. On Friday 13 October 2006, a blue-ribbon panel announced the results of the Germany-wide Excellence Initiative for promoting top university research and education. The panel, composed of the
German Research Foundation and the German Science Council, has decided that LMU Munich will receive funding for all three areas covered by the Initiative: one graduate school, three "excellence clusters" and general funding for the university's "future concept". In January 2012, scientists at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München published details of the most sensitive listening device known so far. This has led to the college being inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records. In September 2018, the Munich public prosecutor's office investigated a university vice president on suspicion of embezzlement. The vice president should have claimed "excessive travel expenses". The following year, veterinary students reported that the LMU violated animal welfare standards. According to them, the LMU keeps pigs in tight grid boxes, so that some animals showed scratches, bumps and respiratory diseases from lying down. Students who reported these circumstances said that they were threatened with deregistration from the university. In the beginning of 2020, the LMU locked around 80 students in a room who wanted to discuss the topic "Climate Burns, University Burns," about why universities are doing research for companies that are harmful to the
climate. == Campus ==