Curated playlist
Leipzig University alumni
- Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche's sister edited his writings to fit her own ultranationalist views.
- Richard WagnerRichard Wagner grew up believing his stepfather was his real father.
- Johann Wolfgang von GoetheWhen French soldiers broke into Goethe's home in 1806, his companion Christiane Vulpius defended it.
- Robert SchumannComposer Robert Schumann fought his own piano teacher in court for the right to marry the teacher's daughter.
- Christian Gottlob HeyneChristian Gottlob Heyne, a poor weaver's son, went on to direct Göttingen's university library.
- Émile DurkheimÉmile Durkheim came from eight generations of rabbis, yet argued religion was social, not divine.
- Edmund HusserlA Franciscan priest smuggled approximately 40,000 pages of Edmund Husserl's notes out of Nazi Germany.
- Edward TellerEdward Teller stood and watched the Trinity test while nearly everyone else lay face-down.
- Tycho BraheTycho Brahe lost the bridge of his nose in a sword duel over who was the better mathematician.
- Klaus FuchsKlaus Fuchs, a German-born theoretical physicist, gave a plain reason for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. Rudolf Peierls, a fellow scientist, visited him in detention shortly after the news of his arrest broke and asked him…
- Otto JahnOtto Jahn gave away his entire Mozart manuscript collection. It went to Ludwig von Köchel for his catalogue.