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Curated playlist

LMU Munich alumni

  • Pope Benedict XVIPope Benedict XVI was born Joseph Alois Ratzinger on Holy Saturday, the 16th of April 1927, and was baptised the same day. For years as a cardinal, he said what he wanted most was a quiet life in his house in Pentling, a Bavarian village…
  • Konrad AdenauerObservers said Konrad Adenauer became West Germany's first chancellor by one vote, his own. He was 73.
  • Max PlanckMax Planck called his quantum idea "an act of despair." The cautious physicist launched quantum physics reluctantly.
  • Werner HeisenbergA spy once carried a pistol to a Werner Heisenberg lecture, ready to shoot him. Moe Berg did not fire.
  • Joseph CampbellGeorge Lucas said Joseph Campbell's book helped shape Star Wars. They met only in 1984.
  • Walter BurkertWhy did the Greeks kill animals at the altar? Scholar Walter Burkert spent his life on that question.
  • Alfred EinsteinAlfred Einstein said Mozart's last three symphonies were never played in his lifetime. Later evidence showed otherwise.
  • Jan AssmannEgyptologist Jan Assmann later admitted he no longer held his famous theory of monotheism in its original form.
  • Rudolf HessRudolf Hess spent the last two decades of his life as the only prisoner in Spandau, a Berlin prison with 600 cells. The Allied powers kept the whole building in service for him alone, at an estimated cost of DM 800,000 a year. Hess had…
  • Peter DebyeA unit of measurement, a lunar crater and a minor planet all carry Peter Debye's name.
  • Erwin PanofskyIn 1934, Erwin Panofsky argued a famous Flemish painting was really a legal contract.

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