Notable Alumni of University of Tubingen [Sorted List]

1. Hans Vaihinger

1852-1933 (aged 81)

university teacher philosopher

Hans Vaihinger was a German philosopher, best known as a Kant scholar and for his Die Philosophie des Als Ob (The Philosophy of 'As if'), published in 1911 although its statement of basic principles had been written more than thirty years earlier.

+ show more

2. Gustav von Schmoller

1838-1917 (aged 79)

university teacher economist politician

Gustav Friedrich Schmoller ( German: [ˈʃmɔlɐ]; 24 June 1838 – 27 June 1917) was the leader of the "younger" German historical school of economics.

+ show more

3. Nils Schmid

1973-. (aged 53)

jurist lawyer minister politician

Nils Schmid is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2017.

4. Christian Friedrich Schönbein

1799-1868 (aged 69)

university teacher chemist politician

Christian Friedrich Schönbein HFRSE was a German-Swiss chemist who is best known for inventing the fuel cell (1838) at the same time as William Robert Grove and his discoveries of guncotton and ozone. He also created the concept of geochemistry in 1838.

+ show more

5. Herta Däubler-Gmelin

1943-. (aged 83)

university teacher lawyer politician

Herta Däubler-Gmelin is a German lawyer, academic and politician of the Social Democratic Party. She served as Federal Minister of Justice from 1998 to 2002, and as a Member of the Bundestag from 1972 to 2009. She currently teaches as an honorary professor of political science at the Free University of Berlin, particularly on international relations and human rights, and...

+ show more

6. Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

1794-1860 (aged 66)

politician aristocrat

Ernst I Christian Carl, 4th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was the son of Prince Carl Ludwig of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Countess Amalie Henriette of Solms-Baruth.

+ show more

7. Martin Bangemann

1934-2022 (aged 88)

lawyer politician

Martin Bangemann was a German politician and a leader of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1985 to 1988. He was German Federal Minister of Economics and European Commissioner.

+ show more

8. Johann Friedrich Gmelin

1748-1804 (aged 56)

pteridologist university teacher bryologist mineralogist chemist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin was a German naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist.

9. Matthias Wissmann

1949-. (aged 77)

jurist politician field hockey player

Matthias Wissmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the president of the German Automobile Industry Association (VdA) from 2007 until 2018.

+ show more

10. Ingmar Hoerr

1968-. (aged 58)

entrepreneur biologist

Ingmar Malte Hoerr is a German biologist. He pioneered vaccinology research concerning the use of RNA and is a founder of the German biotechnology company CureVac. He created the initial technology used in RNA vaccines and has reportedly been nominated for a Nobel Prize. He is currently an Ambassador for the European Innovation Council for the years 2021–2027.

+ show more

11. Justinus Kerner

1786-1862 (aged 76)

magnetizer poet writer scientist physician writer

Justinus Andreas Christian Kerner was a German poet, practicing physician, and medical writer. He gave the first detailed description of botulism.

12. Miroslav Volf

1956-. (aged 70)

university teacher theologian non-fiction writer

Miroslav Volf is a Croatian Protestant theologian and public intellectual and Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology and director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture at Yale University. He previously taught at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in his native Osijek, Croatia (1979–80, 1983–90) and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California (1990–1998).

+ show more

13. Asfa-Wossen Asserate

1948-. (aged 78)

writer

Le'ul Ras Asfa-Wossen Asserate is an Ethiopian-German political analyst and consultant for African and Middle-Eastern Affairs and best-selling author. A member of the Ethiopian royalty, he is the great-nephew of the last Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I, great-grandson of the Empress Menen and son of the last President of the Imperial Crown Council, Le'ul Ras (Duke) Asserate Kassa and...

+ show more

14. Ulrich Kienzle

1936-2020 (aged 84)

journalist

Ulrich Kienzle was a German journalist and author. He was known for specializing in the politics and culture of the Middle East. He worked for several broadcasters, including German public television networks ARD and ZDF. He was one of the few Western journalists to interview Muammar Gaddafi in the 1970s. In 1990, he was the last western journalist who interviewedSaddam...

+ show more

15. Gustav Schwab

1792-1850 (aged 58)

mythographer poet pastor writer secondary school teacher

Gustav Benjamin Schwab was a German writer, pastor and publisher.

16. Hans Mommsen

1930-2015 (aged 85)

historian historian of Modern Age university teacher

Hans Mommsen was a German historian, known for his studies in German social history, for his functionalist interpretation of the Third Reich, and especially for arguing that Adolf Hitler was a weak dictator. Descended from Nobel Prize-winning historian Theodor Mommsen, he was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

+ show more

17. Annette Widmann-Mauz

1966-. (aged 60)

politician

Annette Widmann-Mauz is a German politician of the Christian Democrats who served as a member of the German Bundestag (the German federal parliament) from 1998 to 2025, representing the electoral district of Tübingen. In addition to her work in parliament, she served as Parliamentary State Secretary in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet from 2009 until 2021.

+ show more

18. Erhard Eppler

1926-2019 (aged 93)

politician

Erhard Eppler was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and founder of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). He studied English, German and history in Frankfurt, Bern and Tübingen, achieved a PhD and worked as a teacher. He met Gustav Heinemann in the late 1940s, who became a role model. Eppler was a member of the...

+ show more

19. Erwin Bälz

1849-1913 (aged 64)

anthropologist physician university teacher internist

Erwin Otto Eduard von Bälz, often simply known as Erwin Bälz (without the noble von particle), was a German internist, anthropologist, and personal physician to the Japanese Imperial Family and cofounder of modern western medicine in Japan.

+ show more

20. Johannes Valentinus Andreae

1586-1654 (aged 68)

poet writer astrologer theologian mathematician

Johannes Valentinus Andreae, also known as Johannes Valentinus Andreä or Johann Valentin Andreae, was a German theologian and writer.

21. Eugen Gerstenmaier

1906-1986 (aged 80)

Protestant theologian theologian resistance fighter politician

Eugen Karl Albrecht Gerstenmaier was a German Protestant theologian, resistance fighter in the Third Reich, and a CDU politician. From 1954 to 1969, he served as the third president of the Bundestag. With a tenure of over 14 years, he is, as of January 2026, the longest serving presiding officer of the German parliament and also the only person to...

+ show more

22. Konrad Adam

1942-. (aged 84)

politician non-fiction writer journalist

Konrad Adam is a German journalist, publicist and former politician who co-founded the Alternative for Germany party. He served as one of three federal spokesmen for the party until 2015.

+ show more

23. Fritz Kuhn

1955-. (aged 71)

university teacher environmentalist politician

Fritz Kuhn is a German politician who served as Mayor of Stuttgart from 2012 until 2021. He was co-chairman of Alliance 90/The Greens, the German Green party, in 2002 and its parliamentary group from 2002 to 2013.

+ show more

24. Albrecht von Haller

1708-1777 (aged 69)

surgeon biologist librarian physician politician

Albrecht von Haller was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave and Jacob Winslow, he is sometimes referred to as "the father of modern physiology."

+ show more

25. Philipp Jenninger

1932-2018 (aged 86)

diplomat jurist politician

Philipp Jenninger was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union and diplomat. He was the ninth president of the Bundestag from 1984 to 1988. He also served as Member of the German Parliament, the Bundestag (1969–1990), Minister of State at the German Chancellery (1982–1984), German Ambassador to Austria (1991–1995) and German Ambassador to the Holy See (1995–1997).

+ show more

26. Qiao Guanhua

1913-1983 (aged 70)

diplomat politician

Qiao Guanhua was a politician and diplomat in the People's Republic of China and played an important role in the talks with United States on the opening of China and the drafting of the Shanghai Communiqué.

+ show more

27. Gert Voss

1941-2014 (aged 73)

film actor television actor stage actor

Gert Voss was a German actor. He was known for his roles in Labyrinth of Lies (2014), Sometime in August (2009) and Ritter, Dene, Voss (1987). He was member of the ensemble of the Burgtheater, and a Kammerschauspieler.

+ show more

28. Theo Sommer

1930-2022 (aged 92)

journalist television presenter non-fiction writer opinion journalist writer

Theo Sommer was a German newspaper editor and intellectual. He began working for Die Zeit in 1958, rising to an editor-in-chief and publisher. His editorials for Die Zeit shaped the paper's social-liberal attitude. He advocated the policy of détente with the Eastern bloc states (Entspannungspolitik). From 1992, Sommer was publisher of Die Zeit, together with Marion Dönhoff and Helmut Schmidt....

+ show more

29. Rita Dove

1952-. (aged 74)

writer poet essayist university teacher

Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an...

+ show more

30. Agnieszka Brugger

1985-. (aged 41)

student politician

Agnieszka Brugger is a German politician (Alliance 90/The Greens) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2009. Since 2018 she serves as Vice-Chair of Alliance ‘90/The Greens in the Bundestag.

+ show more

31. Karl Bonhoeffer

1868-1948 (aged 80)

psychiatrist university teacher neurologist

Karl Bonhoeffer was a German neurologist, psychiatrist and physician.

32. Sebastian Münster

1488-1552 (aged 64)

astronomer cartographer cosmographer mathematician Hebraist

Sebastian Münster was a German cartographer and cosmographer. He also was a Christian Hebraist scholar who taught as a professor at the University of Basel. His well-known work, the highly accurate world map, Cosmographia, sold well and went through 24 editions. Its influence was widely spread by a production of woodcuts created of it by a variety of artists.

+ show more

33. Carlo Schmid

1950-. (aged 76)

politician

Carlo Schmid was a German academic and politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

34. Antje Jackelén

1955-. (aged 71)

pastor theologian

Antje Jackelén is archbishop emerita and primate emerita (prima inter pares) of the Church of Sweden, the national church. On 15 October 2013, she was elected the 70th Archbishop of Uppsala and formally received through a service in Uppsala Cathedral on 15 June 2014, making her Sweden's first foreign-born archbishop since the 12th century, and the first female archbishop.

+ show more

35. Christof Koch

1956-. (aged 70)

journalist neuroscientist psychologist university teacher

Christof Koch is an American cognitive scientist, neurophysiologist and computational neuroscientist best known for his work on the neural basis of consciousness.

+ show more

36. Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern

1811-1885 (aged 74)

politician

Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was the last reigning prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen before the territory was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1849. Afterwards, he continued to be titular prince of his house and – with the death of the last prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen in 1869 – of the entire Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. He served...

+ show more

37. Aleida Assmann

1947-. (aged 79)

university teacher anthropologist scholar of English

Aleida Assmann is a German professor of English and literary studies, who studied Egyptology and whose work has focused on cultural anthropology and cultural and communicative memory.

+ show more

38. Lisa Federle

1961-. (aged 65)

writer physician

Lisa Federle is a German doctor and emergency physician. In 2015, she introduced a "mobile doctor's practice" in the Tübingen district to treat refugees in their emergency shelters as well as homeless people. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became a mobile fever and diagnostic clinic. With the test strategy she had initiated, she adapted the Tübingen model for targeted pandemic...

+ show more

39. Albrecht Glaser

1942-. (aged 84)

politician

Albrecht Heinz Erhard Glaser is a German politician (AfD, formerly CDU). From 1997 to 2001, he served as the treasurer of Frankfurt.

40. Ludwig Uhland

1787-1862 (aged 75)

literary historian university teacher poet lawyer writer linguist

Johann Ludwig Uhland was a German poet, philologist, literary historian, lawyer and politician.

41. Aurel Stein

1862-1943 (aged 81)

explorer university teacher archaeologist art historian anthropologist

Sir Marc Aurel Stein, KCIE, FRAS, FBA was a Hungarian-born British archaeologist, primarily known for his explorations and archaeological discoveries in Central Asia. He was also a professor at Indian universities.

+ show more

42. Adolph Diesterweg

1790-1866 (aged 76)

writer teacher pedagogue opinion journalist

Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Diesterweg was a German educator, thinker, and progressive liberal politician, who campaigned for the secularization of schools. He is said to be precursory to the reform of pedagogy. Diesterweg is considered as "a teacher of teachers".

+ show more

43. Robert Mayer

1957-. (aged 69)

politician

Julius Robert von Mayer was a German physician, chemist, and physicist and one of the founders of thermodynamics. He is best known for enunciating in 1841 one of the original statements of the conservation of energy or what is now known as one of the first versions of the first law of thermodynamics, namely that "energy can be neither created...

+ show more

44. Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner

1854-1925 (aged 71)

diplomat politician journalist

Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, KG, GCB, GCMG, PC was a British statesman and colonial administrator who played a very important role in the formulation of British foreign and domestic policy between the mid-1890s and the early 1920s. From December 1916 to November 1918, he was one of the most important members of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's War cabinet.

+ show more

45. David Strauss

1808-1874 (aged 66)

writer Christian theologian philosopher biographer

David Friedrich Strauss was a German liberal Protestant theologian and writer who influenced Christian Europe with his portrayal of the "historical Jesus", whose divine nature he explored via myth. Strauss conceived of myths as expressions of truths, as opposed to the modern shorthand of myth for "falsity"- Strauss did not deny Jesus' divine nature. His work was connected to the...

+ show more

46. Wilhelm Schickard

1592-1635 (aged 43)

theologian cartographer university teacher mathematician Hebraist

Wilhelm Schickard was a German professor of Hebrew and astronomy who became famous in the second part of the 20th century after Franz Hammer, a biographer (along with Max Caspar) of Johannes Kepler, claimed that the drawings of a calculating clock, predating the public release of Pascal's calculator by twenty years, had been discovered in two unknown letters written by...

+ show more

47. Walter Kasper

1933-. (aged 93)

Catholic priest Catholic bishop university teacher theologian

Walter Kasper is a German Catholic prelate who served as President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity from 2001 to 2010. He was previously Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart from 1989 to 1999.

+ show more

48. Susanne Stichler

1969-. (aged 57)

news presenter journalist television presenter radio personality

Susanne Stichler is a German journalist and newscaster.

49. Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim

1594-1632 (aged 38)

military officer

Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim was a German field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire in the Thirty Years' War. A supporter of the Catholic League, he was mortally wounded during the Battle of Lützen fighting the Protestant forces under Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus.

+ show more

50. Julian Nida-Rümelin

1954-. (aged 72)

university teacher philosopher politician

Julian Nida-Rümelin is a German philosopher and public intellectual. He served as State Minister for Culture of the Federal Republic of Germany under Chancellor Schröder. He was professor of philosophy and political theory at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich until 2020. Nida-Rümelin is vice chairman of the German Ethics Council.

+ show more

51. Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard

1942-. (aged 84)

biologist university teacher biochemist psychologist geneticist

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard ( German pronunciation: [kʁɪsˈti̯anə ˈnʏslaɪ̯n ˈfɔlˌhaʁt]; born 20 October 1942) is a German developmental biologist and a 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate. She is the only woman from Germany to have received a Nobel Prize in the sciences.

+ show more

52. Wolfgang Kapp

1858-1922 (aged 64)

jurist politician

Wolfgang Kapp was a German conservative and nationalist and political activist who is best known for his involvement in the eponymous 1920 Kapp Putsch. He spent most of his career working for the Prussian Ministry of Finance and then as director of the Agricultural Credit Institute in East Prussia. During World War I, Kapp was a vocal annexationist and critic...

+ show more

53. Karl I of Württemberg

1823-1891 (aged 68)

politician

Charles was the third King of Württemberg from 25 June 1864 until his death in 1891.

54. Alfred Weber

1868-1958 (aged 90)

economist pedagogue sociologist university teacher

Carl David Alfred Weber was a German economist, geographer, sociologist, philosopher, and theoretician of culture whose work was influential in the development of modern economic geography.

+ show more

55. Carl Peters

1856-1918 (aged 62)

explorer colonialist opinion journalist politician

Carl Peters was a German explorer and colonial administrator. He was a major promoter of the establishment of the German colony of East Africa (part of today’s Tanzania) and one of the founders of the German East Africa Company. He was a controversial figure in Germany for his views and his brutal treatment of native Africans, which ultimately led to...

+ show more

56. Margot Käßmann

1958-. (aged 68)

pastor parson university teacher theologian

Margot Käßmann is a Lutheran theologian, who was Landesbischöfin (bishop) of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover in Germany. On 28 October 2009, she was also elected to lead the Protestant Church in Germany, a federation of Protestant church bodies in Germany. She stepped down from both offices on 24 February 2010 following a drink-driving incident. After serving as a "Reformation...

+ show more

57. Christoph Martin Wieland

1733-1813 (aged 80)

translator of William Shakespeare poet lawyer university teacher writer translator

Christoph Martin Wieland was a German poet and writer, representative of literary Rococo. He is best-remembered for having written the first Bildungsroman (Geschichte des Agathon), as well as the epic Oberon, which formed the basis for both Friederike Sophie Seyler's opera of the same name and Carl Maria von Weber's opera of the same name. His thought was representative of...

+ show more

58. Klaus Kinkel

1936-2019 (aged 83)

lawyer politician

Klaus Kinkel was a German statesman, civil servant, diplomat and lawyer who served as the minister of Foreign affairs (1992–1998) and the vice chancellor of Germany (1993–1998) in the government of Helmut Kohl.

+ show more

59. Ernst Kretschmer

1888-1964 (aged 76)

university teacher psychiatrist judge psychologist psychotherapist

Ernst Kretschmer was a German psychiatrist who researched the human constitution and established a typology.

60. Franz Walter Stahlecker

1900-1942 (aged 42)

jurist police officer

Franz Walter Stahlecker was commander of the SS security forces, the Sicherheitspolizei (SiPo) and the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), for the Reichskommissariat Ostland in 1941–42. Stahlecker commanded Einsatzgruppe A, the most murderous of the four Einsatzgruppen (death squads during the Holocaust) active in German-occupied Eastern Europe. He was fatally wounded in action by Soviet partisans and was replaced by Heinz Jost.

+ show more

61. Franz Brentano

1838-1917 (aged 79)

university teacher philosopher psychologist

Franz Clemens Honoratus Hermann Josef Brentano was a German philosopher and psychologist. His 1874 Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint, considered his magnum opus, is credited with having reintroduced the medieval scholastic concept of intentionality into contemporary philosophy.

+ show more

62. Wilhelm II of Württemberg

1848-1921 (aged 73)

monarch

William II was the last King of Württemberg. He ruled from 6 October 1891 until the dissolution of the kingdom on 30 November 1918. He was the last German ruler to abdicate in the wake of the November Revolution of 1918.

+ show more

63. Heiner Geißler

1930-2017 (aged 87)

writer jurist lawyer politician

Heinrich "Heiner" Geißler was a German politician and judge who served as the Federal Minister for Youth, Family and Health from 1982 to 1985. A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), he served as the party's general secretary from 1977 to 1989.

+ show more

64. Rudolf Bultmann

1884-1976 (aged 92)

university teacher theologian philosopher

Rudolf Karl Bultmann was a German Lutheran theologian and professor of the New Testament at the University of Marburg. He was one of the major figures of early 20th-century biblical studies. A prominent critic of liberal theology, Bultmann instead argued for an existentialist interpretation of the New Testament. His hermeneutical approach to the New Testament led him to be a...

+ show more

65. Claude Lanzmann

1925-2018 (aged 93)

documentarian director writer French resistance fighter film producer

Claude Lanzmann was a French filmmaker, best known for the Holocaust documentary film Shoah (1985), which consists of nine and a half hours of oral testimony from Holocaust survivors, without historical footage. He is also known for his 2017 documentary film Napalm, about a love affair he had with a North Korean nurse whilst visiting North Korea in 1958, several...

+ show more

66. Thomas Oppermann

1954-2020 (aged 66)

jurist judge politician

Thomas Ludwig Albert Oppermann was a German politician and member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). From October 2017 until his death, he served as Vice President of the Bundestag. In his earlier career, he served as First Secretary (2007–2013) and later as chairman (2013–2017) of the SPD Parliamentary Group in the Bundestag.

+ show more

67. Ernst Albrecht

1930-2014 (aged 84)

politician

Ernst Carl Julius Albrecht was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union and a former high-ranking European civil servant. He was one of the first European civil servants appointed in 1958 and served as director-general of the Directorate-General for Competition from 1967 to 1970. He served as Minister President of the state of Lower Saxony from 1976 to 1990....

+ show more

68. Michel Tournier

1924-2016 (aged 92)

translator children's writer novelist writer

Michel Tournier was a French writer. He won awards such as the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française in 1967 for Friday, or, The Other Island and the Prix Goncourt for The Erl-King in 1970. His inspirations included traditional German culture, Catholicism and the philosophies of Gaston Bachelard. He resided in Choisel and was a member of the Académie...

+ show more

69. William Ramsay

1852-1916 (aged 64)

historian professor archaeologist chemist

Sir William Ramsay KCB FRS FRSE was a Scottish chemist who discovered the noble gases and received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1904 "in recognition of his services in the discovery of the inert gaseous elements in air" along with his collaborator, John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics that same year for...

+ show more

70. Wilhelm Hauff

1802-1827 (aged 25)

writer lyricist children's writer fairy tales writer poet

Wilhelm Hauff was a German poet and novelist known for his stories and novels. Raised in Stuttgart and educated in Tübingen, he wrote fairy tales such as Der kleine Muck (Little Muck) and Das kalte Herz (Heart of Stone), the historical romance Lichtenstein, and the parody Der Mann im Mond (The Man in the Moon). He died of typhoid fever...

+ show more

71. Hellmuth Karasek

1934-2015 (aged 81)

playwright literary critic university teacher dramaturge theatre critic

Hellmuth Karasek was a German journalist, literary critic, novelist, and the author of many books on literature and film. He was one of Germany's best-known feuilletonists.

+ show more

72. Rita Süssmuth

1937-2026 (aged 89)

university teacher politician pedagogue psychologist sociologist

Rita Süssmuth was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as the tenth president of the Bundestag.

73. Günther Oettinger

1953-. (aged 73)

politician lawyer judge consultant jurist

Günther Hermann Oettinger is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources from 2017 to 2019, as European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society from 2014 to 2016 and as European Commissioner for Energy from 2010 to 2014.

+ show more

74. Philipp Melanchthon

1497-1560 (aged 63)

philosopher astrologer theologian university teacher Protestant reformer

Philip Melanchthon was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and influential designer of educational systems.

+ show more

75. Paul Tillich

1886-1965 (aged 79)

university teacher theologian philosopher

Paul Johannes Tillich was a German and American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Tillich taught at German universities before immigrating to the United States in 1933, where he taught at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago.

+ show more

76. Martin Walser

1927-2023 (aged 96)

screenwriter novelist writer journalist playwright

Martin Johannes Walser was a German writer, known especially as a novelist. He began his career as journalist for Süddeutscher Rundfunk, where he wrote and directed audio plays. He was a member of Group 47 from 1953 on.

+ show more

77. Manfred Rommel

1928-2013 (aged 85)

jurist writer military personnel soldier opinion journalist

Manfred Rommel was a German politician belonging to the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served as mayor of Stuttgart from 1974 until 1996. Rommel's policies were described as tolerant and liberal, and he was one of the most popular municipal politicians in Germany. He was the recipient of numerous foreign honours. He was the only son of Wehrmacht Field Marshal...

+ show more

78. Fritz Bauer

1903-1968 (aged 65)

prosecutor judge

Fritz Bauer was a German Jewish judge and prosecutor. He played an instrumental role in the post-war capture of former Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann, and in bringing about the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials.

+ show more

79. Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling

1775-1854 (aged 79)

writer philosopher librettist university teacher

Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling was a German philosopher. Standard histories of philosophy make him the midpoint in the development of German idealism, situating him between Johann Gottlieb Fichte, his mentor in his early years, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, his one-time university roommate, early friend, and later rival. Interpreting Schelling's philosophy is regarded as difficult because of its evolving nature.

+ show more

80. Alois Alzheimer

1864-1915 (aged 51)

university teacher psychiatrist neuropathologist neurologist neuroscientist

Alois Alzheimer was a German psychiatrist, neuropathologist and colleague of Emil Kraepelin. He is credited with identifying the first published case of "presenile dementia", which Kraepelin later identified as Alzheimer's disease.

+ show more

81. Boris Palmer

1972-. (aged 54)

writer politician

Boris Erasmus Palmer is a German independent politician and former member of the Green Party. He has been mayor of Tübingen since January 2007. From March 2001 to May 2007, he was a member of the Baden-Württemberg Landtag, the State parliament in Stuttgart.

+ show more

82. Johannes Kepler

1571-1630 (aged 59)

astronomer musicologist music theorist mathematician physicist

Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and music theorist. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of planetary motion, and his books Astronomia nova, Harmonice Mundi, and Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae. The variety and impact of his work made Kepler one of the founders and fathers of modern astronomy,...

+ show more

83. Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1906-1945 (aged 39)

theologian philosopher resistance fighter pastor poet

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was a key founding member of the Confessing Church. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential; his 1937 book The Cost of Discipleship is described as a modern classic. Apart from his theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance...

+ show more

84. Albert Schweitzer

1875-1965 (aged 90)

physician writer philosopher musicologist composer organist

Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer OM was a German polymath from Alsace. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. As a Lutheran minister, Schweitzer challenged both the secular view of the historical Jesus as depicted by the historical-critical method current at this time, as well as the traditional Christian view. His contributions to the interpretation of Pauline...

+ show more

85. Wilhelm Wundt

1832-1920 (aged 88)

university teacher writer philosopher psychologist physiologist

Wilhelm Maximilian Wundt was a German physiologist, philosopher, professor, and one of the fathers of modern psychology. Wundt, who distinguished psychology as a science from philosophy and biology, was the first person to call himself a psychologist.

+ show more

86. Kurt Georg Kiesinger

1904-1988 (aged 84)

jurist lawyer judge politician

Kurt Georg Kiesinger was a German politician who served as the chancellor of West Germany from 1 December 1966 to 21 October 1969. Before he became Chancellor he served as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg from 1958 to 1966 and as President of the Federal Council from 1962 to 1963. He was Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1967 to 1971.

+ show more

87. Mary L. Trump

1965-. (aged 61)

biographer life coach businessperson non-fiction writer clinical psychologist

Mary Lea Trump is an American psychologist, author, and political commentator. She is the niece of Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th president of the United States.

+ show more

88. Ferdinand I of Romania

1865-1927 (aged 62)

monarch

Ferdinand I, nicknamed the Unifier (Romanian: Întregitorul; Romanian: [ɨn.tre.d͡ʒiˈto.rul] ), was King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death in 1927. Ferdinand was the second son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern, and Infanta Antónia of Portugal, (daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Kohary). His family was part of the Catholic...

+ show more

89. Friedrich Hölderlin

1770-1843 (aged 73)

philosopher librettist Hofmeister writer translator

Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a German poet and philosopher. Described by Norbert von Hellingrath as "the most German of Germans", Hölderlin was a key figure of German Romanticism. Particularly due to his early association with and philosophical influence on Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, he was also an important thinker in the development of German...

+ show more

90. Horst Köhler

1943-2025 (aged 82)

politician economist

Horst Köhler was a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties (the CDU, of which he was a member, and the CSU) and also candidate of the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Convention on 23 May 2004...

+ show more

91. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

1770-1831 (aged 61)

philosopher of law writer philosophy historian university teacher logician

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher and a major figure in the tradition of German idealism. His influence on Western philosophy extends across a wide range of topics—from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political philosophy, to the philosophy of art and religion.

+ show more

92. Günter Blobel

1936-2018 (aged 82)

university teacher biologist cell biologist biochemist physician

Günter Blobel was a Silesian German and American biologist and 1999 Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology for the discovery that proteins have intrinsic signals that govern their transport and localization in the cell.

+ show more

93. Heinrich August Winkler

1938-. (aged 88)

historian historian of Modern Age university teacher

Heinrich August Winkler is a German historian.

94. Walter Jens

1923-2013 (aged 90)

librettist philologist literary critic literary scholar germanist

Walter Jens was a German philologist, literature historian, critic, university professor and writer.

95. Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony

1893-1943 (aged 50)

priest military officer Catholic priest

Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony or George was the last Crown Prince of Saxony and the heir to Frederick Augustus III, the final King of Saxony, at the time of the monarchy’s abolition on 13 November 1918.

+ show more

96. Johann Eck

1486-1543 (aged 57)

translator university teacher pundit theologian

Johann Eck, also known as Johann Maier von Eck and often anglicized as John Eck, was a German Roman Catholic theologian, scholastic, prelate, and opponent of Martin Luther.

+ show more

97. Heinrich von Treitschke

1834-1896 (aged 62)

historian of Modern Age writer university teacher opinion journalist politician

Heinrich Gotthard von Treitschke was a German historian, political writer and National Liberal member of the Reichstag during the time of the German Empire.

+ show more

98. Romano Guardini

1885-1968 (aged 83)

university teacher Catholic priest theologian writer philosopher

Romano Guardini was an Italian, naturalized German Catholic priest, philosopher and theologian.

99. Ulrich Tukur

1957-. (aged 69)

stage actor singer film actor musician

Ulrich Tukur is a German actor and musician. He is known for his roles in Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon, Steven Soderbergh's Solaris, the docudrama North Face based on the 1936 Eiger climbing disaster in Switzerland, and as Wilhelm Uhde in Martin Provost's biopic Séraphine.

+ show more

100. Ole Nydahl

1941-. (aged 85)

yogi teacher writer

Ole Nydahl, also known as Lama Ole, is a lama providing Mahamudra teachings in the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since the early 1970s, Nydahl has toured the world giving lectures and meditation courses. With his wife, Hannah Nydahl (1946-2007), he founded Diamond Way Buddhism, a worldwide Karma Kagyu Buddhist organization with over 600 centers for lay practitioners.

+ show more