Engelbert Arnold
1856 to 1911
Electrical engineering; professor from 1894 to 1911. Founder of the Electrical Engineering Institute.
Reinhard Baumeister
1833 to 1917
Civil engineering; professor from 1861 to 1912. Founder of scientific urban planning.
Erwin Willy Becker
1920 to 2011
Nuclear physics; 1974 to 1975 Chairman of the Executive Board of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center, under his leadership the separation nozzle technology was developed.
Karl Heinz Beckurts
1930 to1986
Mechanical engineering/nuclear physics; apl. professor (extraordinary professor) from 1963 to 1970. Director of the Institute for Applied Nuclear Physics at the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center, chairman of the board of the Jülich Nuclear Research Facility from 1975 to 1980, research director at Siemens. Killed in a terrorist attack.
Ferdinand Braun
1850 to 1918
Physics; professor from 1883 to 1885. Inventor of the cathode ray tube (Braun's tube), Nobel Prize winner.
Georg Bredig
1868 to 1944
Physical chemistry; professor from 1911 to 1933. Catalysis research.
Hans Bunte
1848 to 1925
Technical chemistry; professor from 1887 to 1919. Central figure in German gas chemistry.
Arthur Drews
1865 to 1935
Philosophy; associate professor (Privatdozent) in 1896, apl. professor (extraordinary professor) from 1889 to 1935. Important representative of philosophical monism.
Egon Eiermann
1904 to 1970
Architecture; professor from 1947 to 1970. World-renowned architect, member of the Pour le Mérite order.
Arwed Emminghaus
1831 to 1916
Economics; professor from 1866 to 1873. Founder of business management.
Friedrich Engeßer
1848 to 1931
Civil engineering; professor from 1885 to 1915. Pioneer in steel construction.
Carl Engler
1842 to 1925
Chemistry; professor from 1876 to 1919. Pioneer of petroleum chemistry.
Wolfgang Gaede
1878 to 1945
Physics; professor from 1919 to 1934 (forced retirement). Pioneer of vacuum technology.
Eberhard Gothein
1853 to 1923
Economics; professor from 1885 to 1890. Cultural historian and economist, involved in the founding of the business schools in Cologne and Mannheim.
Franz Grashof
1826 to 1893
Mechanical engineering; professor from 1863 to 1893. Founding chairman of the VDI (Association of German Engineers), influenced the development of polytechnic schools into technical universities.
Fritz Haber
1868 to 1934
Physical chemistry; apl. professor 1898 to 1906 (extraordinary professor), full professor 1906 to 1911. Development of ammonia synthesis, Nobel Prize winner.
Wolf Häfele
1927 to 2013
Honorary professor at the University of Karlsruhe, project manager for the “Fast Breeder” project, vice director of the International Institute for Systems Analysis in Vienna, chairman of the Board of Directors in Jülich, director of the Research Center in Rossendorf.
Heinrich Hertz
1857 to 1894
Physics; professor from 1885 to 1889. Investigation of the nature of electromagnetic waves in Karlsruhe.
Heinrich Hübsch
1795 to 1863
Architecture; professor from 1832 to 1854. Influential architecture in the Grand Duchy of Baden.
Emil Kirschbaum
1900 to 1970
Apparatus engineering; associate professor from 1934 to 1935, full professor from 1935 to 1966. Founder of chemical engineering.
Otto Lehmann
1855 to 1922
Physics; professor from 1889 to 1919. Fundamental research into liquid crystals.
Hans Leussink
1912 to 2008
Foundation engineering / tunnel construction / industrial engineering; professor from 1954 to 1969, honorary professor from 1969 to 1962, president of the West German Rectors' Conference, chairman of the German Science and Humanities Council from 1965 to 1969, Federal Minister of Education and Science from 1969 to 1972.
Jakob Friedrich Meßmer
1809 to 1883
Practical mechanics; teacher from 1833 to 1836. Director of the locomotive factory in Grafenstaden, Alsace.
Lothar Meyer
1830 bis 1895
Chemistry; professor from 1868 to 1876. Developed the periodic table of elements with Mendeleev.
Simon Moser
1901 to 1988
Philosophy; associate professor from 1952 to 1958, full professor from 1958 to 1968. Renowned philosopher of technology.
Wilhelm Nußelt
1882 to 1957
Technical thermodynamics; professor from 1920 to 1925. Heat transfer analysis (Nußeltsche Wasserhauttheorie), Nusselt sphere, Nusselt number.
Rudolf Plank
1886 to 1973
Technical thermodynamics/ cooling technology; professor from 1925 to 1954. Founder of cooling technology in Karlsruhe and of what is now the Max Rubner Institute (former Reich Institute for Food Preservation).
Emil Probst
1877 to 1950
Reinforced concrete construction; professor 1916-1933 (dismissed). Significant contributions to reinforced concrete construction.
Ferdinand Redtenbacher
1809 to 1863
Mechanical engineering; professor from 1841 to 1863. Founder of scientific mechanical engineering.
Theodor Rehbock
1864 to 1950
Hydraulic engineering; professor from 1899 to 1933. Founder of the Karlsruhe Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory, world-renowned hydraulic engineer.
Franz Schnabel
1887 to 1966
History; professor 1922 to September 30, 1936 (forced retirement), 1946 to 1948. Renowned historian.
Herwig Schopper
1924 to 2025
Physics; professor from 1960 to 1973, director of the Institute for Experimental Nuclear Physics from 1961 to 1973, head of a joint institute for nuclear physics at the University Karlsruhe and Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Research Center), initiator of the Karlsruhe collaboration with CERN.
Walter Seelmann-Eggebert
1915 to 1988
Radiochemistry; professor from 1958 to 1983. Creator of the Karlsruhe nuclide chart with Gerda Pfenning, director of the Institute for Radiochemistry at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center).
Leonhard Sohncke
1842 to 1897
Physics; professor from 1871 to 1883. Renowned crystallographer and meteorologist.
Hermann Staudinger
1881 to 1965
Chemistry; apl. professor (extraordinary professor) from 1907 to 1910, associate professor from 1910 to 1912. Significant contributions to polymer chemistry, Nobel Prize winner.
Karl Steinbuch
1917 to 2006
Communications engineering; professor from 1958 to 1980. Computer science pioneer, futurologist.
Joachim Teichmüller
1866 to 1938
Light technology; apl. Prof. 1899 (extraordinary professor), associate professor 1900, full professor 1918 to 1934. Founder of the Light Technology Institute and light technology as a subject of study.
Peter Wapnewski
1922 to 2012
German literature; 1969 to 1990 Professor at the University of Karlsruhe, Old German studies and Wagner expert, 1996 Sigmund Freud Prize for Scientific Prose, 1999 Rahel Varnhagen von Ense Medal of the City of Berlin, 2003 Ernst Reuter Plaque of the State of Berlin, 2008 Helmholtz Medal.
Karl Wirtz
1910 to 1994
Reactor technology; professor from 1957 to 1977, director of the Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology at the Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center) from 1957 to 1978. “Architect” of Research Reactor 2 (FR 2).