Famous persons linked to Würzburg

You may have recognized that our Zoom-Rooms are named "roentgen", "nowitzki" and "goethe". But why? You can find out the reason for this here. All these persons have a connection with the city of Würzburg. So we give you some interesting facts about these three people.

 

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen

Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was a German physicist and university teacher, from 1888 as Professor of Physics and Head of the Physics Institute of the University of Würzburg. He is considered one of the most important scholars of our university. On 8 November 1895, he discovered – here in Würzburg – the "X-rays", the Röntgen rays later named after him. For this discovery he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 and donated the prize money to our University.

Willhelm Conrad Röntgen

Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Nowitzki is one of the most successful basketball players in history and former german international. He played almost 20 years in the NBA, the professional basketball league of North America, for the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki was born in Würzburg in 1978, where he spent his youth. In Würzburg, he also started playing basketball at DJK Würzburg. His greatest success was winning the NBA championship in 2011. A welcoming ceremony was held on the balcony of the Würzburg Residence – 10,000 people celebrated him. (Image source: Keith Allison)

Dirk Nowitzki

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, writer and naturalist. In addition to his best-known works such as ‘Faust’ or ‘Der Zauberlehrling’ (‘The Sorcerer's Apprentice’), there are many surviving quotations from Goethe in which he expresses his love of wine. He was particularly fond of the "Würzburger Stein" wine. In 1806 he wrote from Jena to his wife Christiane: "Send me some 'Würzburger', no other wine tastes good to me and I am annoyed when I run out of my favourite drink". A school and a street in Würzburg are named after Goethe.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe