University of Vienna - Universität Wien

The University of Vienna is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and one of the largest in Central Europe. With more than 90,000 students in 188 different courses from Bachelor to PhD, the University of Vienna is the largest teaching and research institution in Austria. The Main Building on the Ringstraße is the historic center of the University of Vienna. The University management, library, student admission office as well as the Audimax (main lecture hall) and other lecture rooms are located in this building.

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The academic institutions of the University of Vienna are spread over more than 60 locations; the current main building on the Ringstraße was inaugurated by Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1884, which had been erected by the architect Heinrich von Ferstel. The previous main building was located close to the Stubentor on Iganz Seipel Square, current home of the old University Church (Universitätskirche) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften).

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University of Vienna was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365. The members of this "universitas magistrorum et scholarium" (the fellowship of teachers and learners) were exempt from taxes and military service and had their own dress code. They also had the authority to administer justice and to apply laws under the supervision of the rector. Since its foundation, the University of Vienna has seen many reforms. 

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During the time that Joseph II was emperor of the Habsburg Monarchy,  Protestants were allowed to enroll at the university for the first time in 1778, while in 1782 after the Edict of Tolerance issued by the emperor, Jews were admitted to the studies of Medicine and Law. Joseph II was also the one to introduce German as the compulsory language of teaching in 1783. The year of the revolution 1848 also greatly influenced the University of Vienna. Students demanded the freedom of teaching and learning, and the end of any suppression of academic life. To this day, the most important success of their endeavors has been the – still valid – article 17 of Austrian Fundamental Law: "Freedom of research and research-based Education." Minister of education Leo Graf Thun-Hohenstein reformed the system of tertiary education radically and invited a great number of professors to Vienna.

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It was 532 years after its foundation until women were admitted as full students for the first time in 1897, although this permit was limited to the Faculty of Philosophy for a start. Ten years after the admission of the first female students, Elise Richter became the first woman to receive habilitation, becoming professor of Romance Languages in 1907; she was also the first female distinguished professor. Following the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Germany by the Nazi regime, in 1938 the University of Vienna was reformed under political aspects and a huge number of teachers and students were dismissed for political and racial reasons. 

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Aula (Assembly Hall) and Arcades

The Aula of the Main Building was reconstructed in 2005 to 2006 to form a light, functional entrance area that also caters for people with special needs. To the left of the Aula there is a directory of all the rectors of the University of Vienna, starting with Albertus Rigennstorff, the first rector (1365).

Portrait photographs of the nine Nobel laureates of the University of Vienna on glass steles also attract attentions. At the center of the installation, there is a stele displaying a question mark as a motivation for the students to become the next winner of the Nobel Prize.

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The adjoining Arcade Court with arcades enables both students and employees to enjoy recreation and communication and also serves as a monument to famous scientists and academics. 154 busts and plaques in the arcades remind us of renowned research scientists of the University. 
 

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Nobel Prize and the University of Vienna

So far, nine scientists who are linked to the University of Vienna through either teaching or research have been awarded the Nobel Prize: 

Robert Bárány, Otology (1876 Vienna – 1936 Uppsala)
1914: Nobel prize for medicine

Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Psychiatry (1857 Wels – 1940 Vienna)
1927: Nobel prize for medicine

Hans Fischer, Chemistry (1881 Höchst a.M. – München 1945)
1930: Nobel prize for chemistry

Karl Landsteiner, Immunology (1868 Vienna – 1943 New York)
1930: Nobel prize for medicine

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Erwin Schrödinger, Physics (1887 Vienna – 1961 Vienna)
1933: Nobel prize for physics

Viktor Franz Hess, Physics (1883 Schloß Waldstein – 1964 Mount Vernon U.S.A.)1936: Nobel prize for physics

Otto Loewi, Physiology and Pharmacology (1873 Frankfurt a.M. – 1961 New York)
1936: Nobel prize for medicine

Konrad Lorenz, Biology (1903 Vienna – 1989 Vienna)
1973: Nobel prize for medicine

Friedrich A. von Hayek, Economics (1899 Vienna – 1992 Freiburg im Breisgau)
1974: Nobel memorial award for Business, Economics, and Statistics

Text Sources: univie.ac.at  and  wikipedia.org