Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship

The Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship ( proper name ) was set up on March 1, 2000 on the occasion of the 600th birthday of Johannes Gutenberg as a non-profit foundation by the "Friends of Mainz University eV" in order to increase the reputation and attractiveness of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz to promote.

Purpose, funding and settlement

The purpose of the foundation is to promote teaching and research at the University of Mainz. The visiting professorship should set new accents in research and teaching, convey the image of a living science to the public and at the same time enable discussion of current problems as well as provide impulses for the integration of the individual sciences and offer new opportunities for contact and cooperation.

The foundation finances the professorship from funds donated and endowed by private sources and from their earnings.

The endowed professorship is part of the Studium generale of the university, which is entrusted with the organization and implementation of the events and conceptually and organizationally supports the professorship holders.

Endowed professorship holder

Anton Zeilinger at a lecture at the University of Mainz on July 11, 2006

Angela D. Friederici giving a lecture as part of her endowed professorship in Mainz (May 2010)

The endowed professorship is reserved for individuals who, due to their academic achievements or their importance in cultural and public life, are able to combine professional perspectives and develop comprehensive insights. Decisive for the appointment are the reputation of the people and the interdisciplinary charisma of their work. The respective lectures take place in the summer semester and do not necessarily have to take place on the university campus, but can also take place in suitable locations in the city center of Mainz, for example in the town hall or the state theater .

2000: Fritz Stern ; Cultural historian and winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
2001: Bert Hölldobler ; leading representative of evolutionary biology and pioneer of sociobiology
2002: Hans-Dietrich Genscher ; former Federal Foreign Minister
2003: Wolfgang Frühwald ; President of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
2004: Klaus Töpfer ; former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Federal Environment Minister
2005: Peter Ruzicka ; Composer and conductor
2006: Anton Zeilinger ; Viennese experimental physicist
2007: Georg Friedrich Melchers ; immunologist
2008: Jan Philipp Reemtsma ; Literary and social scientist
2009: Karl Lehmann ; Mainz bishop and cardinal
2010: Angela D. Friederici ; Neuropsychologist
2011: Gottfried Boehm ; Art historian and philosopher
2012: Friedemann Schrenk ; Paleoanthropologist
2013: Gerold Krause-Junk ; Economist
2014: Christof Wetterich ; theoretical physicist
2015: Aleida and Jan Assmann , cultural scientists
2016: Onur Güntürkün ; Biopsychologist
2017: Wolfgang Wahlster ; Computer scientist
2018: Herfried Münkler ; Political scientist
2019: Hanns Hatt ; Biologist and medic
2020: Joachim Gauck ; Theologian and Federal President a. D.