Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (German: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), also known as LMU, is a university in Munich and, with more than 44,000 students, is the second-largest university in Germany.
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (German: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München), also known as LMU, is a university in Munich and, with more than 44,000 students, is the second-largest university in Germany. The majority of foreign exchanges at the University of Munich are with European universities. The main building is situated in Geschwister-Scholl-Platz. The university's main campus is served by the Munich subway's Universität station.
According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (2006), the LMU is the highest ranked German university (51st), and according to the German FOCUS ranking, the LMU is the second highest ranked German university (behind the Technical University of Munich). Global University Ranking 2009 also places LMU among 51 best universities in the world.
The university originally existed as the University of Ingolstadt from 1472 (foundation right of Louis IX the Rich) to 1802 in Ingolstadt and was then moved to Landshut by Maximilian IV Joseph (the later Maximilian I King of Bavaria). After a short time it was moved to the capital of Bavaria, Munich, in the year 1826, by Louis I. It is named after Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria and Maximilian I, King of Bavaria. The university was situated in the Old Academy until a new building in the Ludwigstraße was completed.
In 1943 the White Rose group of anti-Nazi students conducted their campaign of opposition to Hitler at this university.
Today the University of 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. 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 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”.
LMU's institutes and research centers are spread throughout Munich, with several buildings located in the suburbs of Oberschleissheim and Garching as well as Maisach and Bad Tölz. The university's main buildings are grouped around Geschwister-Scholl-Platz and Professor-Huber-Platz on Ludwigstrasse, extending into side streets such as Akademiestraße, Schellingstraße, and Veterinärstraße. Other large campuses and institutes are located in Großhadern (Klinikum Großhadern, the Ludwigsvorstadt (Klinikum Innenstadt) and in the Lehel (Institut am Englischen Garten), across from the main buildings, through the Englischer Garten.
The university currently consists of 18 faculties:
The university also includes the following research departments, which are run cooperatively with other organizations.
The Parmenides Center, run together with the Parmenides Foundation.
The Rachel Carson Center for Environmental Studies, a joint initiative of LMU and Deutsches Museum.
Many notable individuals have studied or taught at the University of Munich. For example, 36 nobel laureates are associated with the university. The alumni of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich played a major role in the development of quantum mechanics. Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory and Nobel laureate in Physics in 1918, was an alumnus of the university. Founders of quantum mechanics such as Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, and others were associated with the university. Most recently, to honor the Nobel laureate in Chemistry Gerhard Ertl, who worked as a professor at the University of Munich from 1973-1986, the building of the Physical Chemistry was named after him.
