History
- A picture from 1879: the view from
the city park towards the annex
building of the former technical
university designed by Alexander
Tritschler and Christian Leins.
From trade school to high tech university - future rooted in tradition
The foundation of the "Vereinigte Real- und Gewerbeschule" in Stuttgart in the year 1829 was one of the events which marked the beginning of the industrial age in Württemberg. Stuttgart followed the example of similar institutions in Karlsruhe (1825), Berlin (1821) and Paris (1794). The curriculum did not only contain a technical education but a more general education with a theoretical orientation. This concept of of a course of studies which gives students a general education in addition to pure tecnichal expert knowledge is valid until today.
After the reform of 1862 four schools for architecture, engineering, engine construction and chemical technics formed the university. With the new building by Josef Egle in 1846 the polytechnical school, which was about to burst at the seams, found a new imposing home. Today the president´s offices can be found in the same building, which was reconstructed by Alexander Tritschler after World War II.
- The art historian Wilhelm
Lübke (1826 -1893) taugh
t history of the arts at the then
polytechnical school from 1866
to 1885.
The new institutions for teaching and research attracted distinguished scholars: amongst others Paul Zech (physics), Wilhelm Ahles (botany), Wilhelm Lübke (history of the arts), Friedrich Theodor Vischer (German literature and aesthetics) and Karl Julius von Bach (engine construction). Due to the scholars who were widely known beyond the borders of Württemberg the polytechnical school in Stuttgart gained an important technical and economical position.
Electrical engineering was introduced as a new subject in 1882. It was followed by a chair for aeronautics and vehicle engineering in 1910/11.
In 1923 the "Association of Friends of the Technical University" was formed, which under its chairman of many years, Robert Bosch (1923-1936), was very active in the funding of the technical university.
The takeover by the national socialists did not remain without consequences for the technical university: In November of 1933 the "leader principle" was introduced. Members of the university of jewish descent were dismissed, amongst others the professors Immanuel Herrmann (electrical engineering), Julius Baum (history of the arts) and Erich Regener (physics). The chemist Julius Schmidt commited suicide in 1933. The director of the library Ernst Marx retired, the physicist Peter Paul Ewaldt retired as president in 1933, in 1937 he gave up his chair and emigrated. The number of students who were dismissed is unknown.
- According to the words of Friedric Theodor
Vischer Karl Marzell Heigelin (1798-1833)
laid the foundation for the later heyday
of the school of architecture in Stuttgart
Heigelin taught here from 1829.
From 1933 the number of students shrunk due to the hostile politics of the national socialists towards science and universities. In World War II the institutes had to focus on tasks in the war and armaments economy.In July 1944 almost all of the university buildings were destroyed by air raids.
The reconstruction work started in June 1945. In February 1946 the university reopened with 1984 students, which were all obliged to help in the reconstruction work. The quickly growing technical university was running out of space in the city center. In the middle of the nineteen fifties the construction of a new campus at the Pfaffenwald in Vaihingen began. And yet the university lacks sufficient space even today.
- The chemist Carl von Hell (1849-1926)
started out as an assistant in the chemical
laboratory in 1871. In 1883 he became
a regular professor. These pictures show
what a lecture room and a laboratory
with students looked like at the turn of the
century.
On July 4th 1967 the name of the Technical University was changed to "Universität Stuttgart". The focus however remained on technical sciences.The inner structure of the university had to go through several changes between 1968 and today: The three departments formed in 1941 (natural sciences and additional subjects, architecture and engine construction) turned into 18 or 19 departments; after 1988 the university consisted of 14 departments, which merged into ten departments in 2003. In 2004 the Universität Stuttgart will celebrate its 175th anniversary with several festivities and events.