German Contributions to the World Past and Present

German Contributions to the World Past and Present Prof. Albrecht Classen University of Arizona

Germany – a small country With some of the greatest contributions to world culture, literature, the arts, technology, medicine, philosophy, and religion

Charlemagne and the Rise of Europe �First Germanic Empire north of the Alps, after the fall of the Roman Empire (8 th century)

German and English �English is a Germanic language! �Anglo-Saxon as the basis of modern English (with strong Anglo-Norman superstructure since 1066)

Gun Powder � 14 th century: Berthold Schwartz (perhaps a legend) �Radical transformation of all military operations �Brought an end to medieval knighthood �(ok, the first were the Chinese, then the Arabs, in late antiquity the Byzantines with their Greek Fire, and in the 13 th c. Roger Bacon)

Printing Press: Johann Gutenberg �Gutenberg invented the movable type in Mainz ca. 1450

Computer �Konrad Zuse: first construction in 1936, 1941 the first functioning computer

Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther � 99 theses, Wittenberg, 1517 �September Testament, 1522 �Old Testament, 1532

Albrecht Dürer �Greatest sixteenth-century artist, at least north of the Alps

Vacuum �Otto von Guericke 1663 (Mayor of Magdeburg), discovers the principle of vacuum

Classical and Romantic Literature �Goethe and Schiller �Heine �Hölderlin �Heinrich von Kleist �Eichendorff �Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

19 th-21 st Century German literature �Theodor Storm �Conrad Ferdinand Meyer �Theodor von Fontane �Thomas Mann �Bertolt Brecht �Hermann Hesse �Nelly Sachs �Heinrich Böll �Günter Grass �Herta Müller

Marxism �Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

German Music �Bach �Händel �Telemann �Pachelbel �Mozart �Haydn �van Beethoven �Hindemith �Stockhausen

Chemistry: Justus von Liebig � 1803 -1873 �Agricultural and biological chemistry

Telephone �Philipp Reis 1859

Dynamo �Werner von Siemens, 1866

The automobile �Daimler Benz �Porsche �Audi �VW �Opel

Blue Jeans �Levi Straus, 1873

Diesel engine � 1890 Rudolf Diesel

Street Car �Werner von Siemens 1881

Tea bag �Adolf Rambold, 1929

Nuclear Physics �Otto Hahn 1938

Relativity Theory �Albert Einstein 1905

X-ray �Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen 1895 �In modern German we use the verb “röntgen” for ‘to x -ray’

Aspirin �FELIX HOFFMANN (working for the company Bayer) � 1897

Bacteriology and Virology �Robert Koch, 1882: discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus �Foundation of modern medical and biological research

Spark Plug �Robert Bosch 1902

Beer �Purity Law issued by the Bavarian Dukes on April 23, 1516

Orthopedic leg � 1997 Otto Bock introduces the C-Leg

Tooth paste �OTTOMAR HEINSIUS VON MAYENBURG 1907

Chip card �Jürgen Dethloff and Helmut Gröttrup: 1968 patent, 1977 micro processing card �Since then the world of credit cards and all other kinds of cards based on chip memory

Screw Anchor, or raw plug/dowel � 1958 Artur Fischer

Jet engine �Hans von Ohain 1936

Television �Manfred von Ardenne, 1930 � 1935 first regular tv program

Gliding plane �Otto von Lilienthal 1894 �This inspired the Brothers Wright to experiment with their first motorized planes

Light bulb �Heinrich Göbel 1854

Homeopathic medicine �Samuel von Hahnemann, 1797

Helicopter �Heinrich Focke, 1936

Coffee filter �Melitta Benz, 1908 �She was just tired of handling all the waste coffee in her drink and used, as a stop-gap measure, her son’s ink-pad paper from school. Voila, the coffee filter was invented.

Air bag � 1971 Mercedes Benz develops the first effective air bag

Modern refrigerator �Company Foron 1993: Freon free refrigeration �This has revolutionized the global battle against the depletion of the ozone layer

Motorcycle �Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler 1885

MP 3 player � 1993; Fraunhofer-Institute

Mouth Organ, or chromatic harmonica �Christian Friedrich Burschmann, 1821

Wood based paper �Friedrich Gottlieb Keller 1843

Birth control pill �Schering company, 1961

Record player �Emil Berliner 1887

Scanner �Rudolf Hell 1951

Let’s not forget all the other countries in the world Let’s not forget the countless other inventions from all over the world.

Nevertheless, Germany has been and continues to be an amazing country and people! It has contributed to a disproportionate degree to the cultural and technological development of this world!

Thank you very much! �For further information, contact me at: �aclassen@email. arizona. edu � 520 621 -1395