Twelve important researchers at the University of Innsbruck

Julius von Ficker Ritter von Feldhaus (1826-1902)

The founder of the "Innsbruck Historical School", which spread to all parts of Austria and Germany, was appointed to the alma mater in 1852. His contributions to the theory of documents, medieval history and legal history put him on a par with the classics of the bourgeois historical school such as Leopold Ranke and Johann Gustav Droysen.

Anton Kerner Ritter von Marilaun (1831-1898)

The founder of modern causal-analytical plant geography and author of the standard work "Das Pflanzenleben der Donauländer" Anton Kerner Ritter von Marilaun taught at the University of Innsbruck from 1860 to 1878 as the first holder of the botanical chair. Charles Darwin became aware of Kerner in 1876 and also introduced a floral ecology work by Kerner with a foreword.

Eugen Ritter von Böhm-Bawerk (1851-1914)

His two-volume work "Capital and Interest on Capital" heralded a turning point in economics at the end of the 19th century. As Minister of Finance (1895, 1897/98, and 1900-1904), he was largely responsible for the reform of personal and labour taxes in Austria. The "Eugen-von-Böhm-Bawerk-Platz" in front of the Faculty of social and Economic Sciences commemorates the great economist.

Heinrich Lammasch (1853-1920)

Lammasch, an expert in international law, became famous for his international commitment to peace and his role as the last Prime Minister of the Habsburg Monarchy. Lammasch was a pacifist and opposed Austria's involvement in the First World War. He is considered a pioneer of Austrian neutrality.

Karl Heider (1856-1936)

The zoologist taught at the University of Innsbruck from 1894 to 1917. He is considered a co-founder of genetics and modern biology. Heider's most important work was in the fields of the developmental history of invertebrates and modern developmental physiology. Heider was a member of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Göttingen and Uppsala.

Wilhelm Wirtinger (1865-1945)

Wilhelm Wirtinger succeeded in mathematically formulating Ludwig Boltzmann's physical theories. He was a well-known function theorist and was headhunted by the University of Vienna due to his success.

Egon Schweidler (1873-1948)

Schweidler, a student of Ludwig Boltzmann and others, is recognised in the history of science as a pioneer of research into the statistical nature of radioactive decay. Together with Stefan Meyer, the director of the Vienna "Radium Institute", Schweidler wrote the "Handbook of Radioactivity" in 1916, which is still widely read today.

Heinrich Ficker (1881-1957)

In 1906 - 100 years ago - Ficker published his dissertation "Innsbruck Foehn Studies", a pioneering work for meteorology. Together with Wilhelm Trabert, Albert Defant and Felix Maria Exner, Ficker is considered a co-founder of the "Innsbruck Meteorological School". Ficker is considered a pioneer of "stratospheric meteorology", as he was the first to prove the processes in the stratosphere, which until then had been considered unchangeable.

Victor Franz Hess (1883-1964)

After his appointment, Hess became director of the new Institute for Radiation Research. In the summer of 1931, he set up a laboratory for ultra-radiation research in an abandoned construction shack on the Hafelekar at 2300 m above sea level to study cosmic radiation and its ionisation effect at rising altitudes. In 1936, Hess was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of cosmic radiation.

Bruno Sander (1884-1979)

With his treatise "Über Zusammenhänge zwischen Teilbewegung und Gefüge in Gesteinen" (1911), Sander founded statistical microstructural science, which earned him international renown and numerous appointments abroad. His brother-in-law Otto Ampferer (1875 - 1947) also completed his doctorate at the university and made a significant contribution to research into tectonics with his essay "Über das Bewegungsbild von Faltengebirgen" (1906). His "undercurrent hypothesis" influenced Alfred Wegener's continental drift theory.

Arthur March (1891-1957)

March, who was born in Brixen, created widely used standard works with his textbooks on relativity and quantum theory. In 1919, March published the textbook "Theory of Radiation and Quanta". In 1950/51, March succeeded in attracting Nobel Prize winner Erwin Schrödinger to Innsbruck as a visiting professor.

Erika Cremer (1900-1996)

The head of the Institute of Physical Chemistry, Erika Cremer, succeeded in separating and analysing gas mixtures down to the micro range with the gas chromatography developed in Innsbruck. She was only denied the Nobel Prize because of the difficult post-war period.