Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Heidelberg University

HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY, a renowned institution in Heidelberg, Germany. It was founded by the Elector Rupert I. in 1386, and continued to flourish till the period of the Thirty Years' War, when it began to decline. In 1802, however, when the town with the surrounding territory was assigned to the Grand-duke of Baden, a new era commenced for the university, and it rapidly became famous. It comprises faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. In 1914 there were 196 professors and instructors, over 2,300 students, and 500,000 volumes and 4,700 MSS. in its library. Many of the most famous German scholars have been professors here — Reuchlin, Œcolampadius, Spanheim, Puffendorf, Gervinus, Paulus, Kuno Fischer, Helmholtz, Bunsen, Blüntschli, etc.