1800 to 1932

A volcanic eruption in early April 1815 ushered in the worst famine of the 19th century in Europe and lead to the year without a summer there.

In the first half of April 1815, the volcano Tambora in Indonesia erupted with the estimated explosive power of 170,000 Hiroshima bombs. 140 billion tons of ash and dust particles were shot kilometers into the atmosphere. The effects were be felt as far away as Europe. An ash cloud lay like a veil on the globe and darkened the sky. The year 1816 went down in collective memory as the "year without a summer." Rain and cold made the harvest rot in the fields, resulting in a devastating famine. In their desperation, people stretched the staple food of bread with whatever else could be found: leaves, roots, grass, or even sawdust.

Inspired by the dark times, authors like Mary Shelley with “Frankenstein” helped the genre of horror stories bloom. Artists such as William Turner or Carl Spitzweg captured the unique lighting and glowing sunsets.

King William I and Catherine Pavlova founded the agricultural teaching, experimental, and model institute Hohenheim.

In the midst of the famine crisis, King William I and his wife Catherine Pavlovna ascended the throne of Württemberg as the new royal couple. To alleviate immediate need and hunger, but also to counteract revolutionary outbreaks, they responded with a nationwide welfare initiative. It also aimed to increase agricultural productivity in the long-term. This required modern institutions and new agricultural knowledge.

On 20 November 1818, King William I and Catherine Pavlovna therefore founded the Hohenheim Agricultural Teaching, Experimental, and Model Institute. The University of Hohenheim later emerged from this institute.

The first director was Johann Nepomuk Hubert Schwerz (1759-1844), who is considered one of the main representatives of empirical-rational agricultural theory. Together with two other instructors, at the beginning he taught 16 pupils in agriculture, mathematics, physics, chemistry, mineralogy, and botany.

An estate farm and an orphanage, later to become the Ackerbauschule, were affiliated with the new institution. In the course of the 19th century, the elementary school, which was integrated into the Ackerbauschule, gave rise to a primary school and a Latin grammar school, which was the predecessor of today's Paracelsusgymnasium (founded in 1966).

In 1819, Germany's first agricultural equipment factory was established in Hohenheim. Here, scientists developed functional, scaled models of their devices that were then sent around the world.

The Hohenheim Farming Equipment Factory aimed to drive forward the mechanization of Württemberg agriculture. In the factory, new farming equipment was designed, built, and sold. By shipping scale models that actually worked, the Farming Equipment Factory quickly becomes known far beyond the borders of Hohenheim. These models could be easily replicated anywhere in the world, making Hohenheim an internationally sought-after supplier of innovative technologies.

In one of the Palace’s Kavaliersgebäude buildings, a canteen for students of the Institute in Hohenheim was set up - the “Speisemeisterei”.

Independent businesspersons operated the canteen (Mensa) and also a restaurant. In 1954, the Mensa was transferred to the Student Services. In 1985, a new refectory building was built, to which additional rooms were added in 2019. The new space in the historical Speisemeisterei Building was restored and turned into a star-rated restaurant called the “Speisemeisterei”.

King William I founded a royal horticultural school in Hohenheim.

As early as 1780, Duke Carl Eugen von Württemberg founded a horticultural school in Hohenheim, which, however, was neglected and then forgotten after his death. Finally, in 1842, William I again established a royal horticultural school. The State Horticultural School and the Municipal Agricultural School remained closely associated with the University of Hohenheim until 2015. in 2015, the responsible ministries separated the university and schools, although the collaborations established over decades, e.g., in the maintenance of the gardens and with the master florist school, continued.

The Agricultural Institute was “promoted” to the Agricultural Academy by a decree from King William I of Württemberg.

The elevation to an academy also meant it fell under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and the Arts (1865).

Seven professors then taught at Hohenheim: two for agriculture, of which one was also the director, two for forestry, and one each for technology, natural sciences, mathematics, and physics.

Besides the seven professors, nine assistant teachers also taught part-time in the subjects veterinary medicine, produce cultivation, apiculture, accounting, legal science, and agricultural construction. There were still not many students - only around 100.

The subjects offered at the Model Institute are expanded: Agricultural Chemistry is now included.

In the 1860s, Hohenheim faced furious attacks from the renowned chemist Justus von Liebig: The Agricultural Academies, especially Hohenheim, were too practical. They were lacking a solid foundation in natural sciences. Hohenheim responded to this by founding the Agricultural Chemistry Experimental Station (later the State Institute for Agricultural Chemistry) in 1865, quickly moving to the forefront of relevant research. Studies in general were increasingly oriented on natural sciences.

In 2016, the State Institute for Agricultural Chemistry was split up: official tasks were moved to Augustenberg, and the academic tasks were integrated into the new Core Facility.

The former Hohenheim student Ferdinand Cohen-Blind shot the Prussian Minister-President Otto von Bismarck on the street.

On 7 May 1866, Ferdinand Cohen-Blind, a former student at the Hohenheim Academy, shot Otto von Bismarck in Berlin, but thanks to an extra layer of clothing, Bismarck escaped the attempted assassination almost unscathed. Cohen-Blind killed himself in jail in the night after the assassination attempt. In Swabia, he was celebrated as a “second William Tell.” Here's why: The Prussian Minister-President was working to force a war against Austria (Austro-Prussian War 1866) in order to further expand Prussian supremacy. With the assassination, Cohen-Blind wanted to prevent this war. In vain: In June, the small kingdom of Württemberg sent soldiers on the Austrian side of the war against Prussia - and suffered heavy losses.

The later Nobel Prize winner Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen taught in Hohenheim.

From 1875 to 1876, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen taught for a short time as Associate Professor of Mathematics and Physics in Hohenheim, before he was recruited to Strasbourg. A quarter of a century later - in the fall of 1901 - he was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for x-rays.

The subjects offered at the Model Institute are expanded: Economics was now included.

The expanded range of subjects gradually developed into the Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences - the third faculty at the University of Hohenheim - which was founded in 1968.

From 1888 until 1967, there was a direct connection between Möhringen and the University campus.

In 1967, the stop was removed to build a new canteen. The new final stop was in front of the town hall and called “Universität Hohenheim.” In the University’s mobility plan and within the Master Plan 2030, the University makes clear that in the future the city railway will not be extended on to the campus again. The reason: the tremors and radiation disturb some sensitive equipment in the nearby institutes, which could distort results.

Mobility (concept) for Hohenheim

To honor Otto von Bismarck, Hohenheim students donate a monument to the University.

A wave of Bismarck veneration across Germany began with his death in 1898. 35 years after Ferdinand Cohen-Blind’s assassination attempt and after South Germany fought without success against Prussian rule, the Hohenheim students were enthusiastic about the idea of a greater Germany. On 16 November 1900, on the initiative of students, a monument in honor of the former Chancellor of the Reich was dedicated in Hohenheim Park with the approval of the Senate and as part of an impressive torchlight procession.

• To the Bismarck assassination attempt (1866)

The Agricultural Teaching, Experimental, and Model Institute Hohenheim was renamed as the Hohenheim Agricultural College.

The change in name was not connected with any larger structural changes at the university. However, beginning in the early 20th century, the individual departments were gradually drawn together into institutes.

The State Plant Breeding Institute was assigned to the Hohenheim Agricultural College.

At the suggestion of Carl Fruwirth, a state seed breeding institute was founded in Württemberg in 1905 and assigned to the Hohenheim Agricultural College. Fruwirth was Professor of Agronomy in Hohenheim from 1897 to 1907 and founded scientific plant breeding during his time here. As an institution for research and development in the field of plant breeding, the work of the State Plant Breeding Institute contributed to a sustainable improvement in crop production – and this at a time when hardly any other means of increasing yields, such as commercial fertilizers or plant protection products, were available.

Today, the State Plant Breeding Institute works primarily toward the goal of developing agricultural crop production that conserves resources and is environmentally and market friendly.

To the State Plant Breeding Institute

The Hohenheim Agricultural College received the right to award doctorates and habilitations.

During the turmoil of the First World War, the College had to do without celebrating its 100th anniversary. After the war, however, it was given the right to award doctorates and habilitations – a first milestone on the path to becoming a university.

The new Rector Constitution came into effect on 1 October 1922.

On 1 October 1922, the new Rector Constitution came into effect and replaced the “New Organizational Provisions” from 1883, which the college had given itself after the separation from the forestry department. The director was replaced by a president, who was chosen annually from among the full professors. The Senate replaced the Instructors’ Convent as the acting decision-making organ of the University. The number of students had grown to 1,000.

The two bronze plaques bear the names of the soldiers from Hohenheim who died in the First World War.

The plan to erect a memorial to the soldiers of the First World War dates back to 1916, but was initially postponed due to the ongoing hostilities. The plaques served not only as places of individual mourning, but also in part as a way to use propaganda to create meaning in the war.

On 1 January 1923, Margarete Baroness von Wrangell was not only appointed as the first female professor in Hohenheim – she was also the first female full professor at a German university.

Before she started, the trained agricultural chemist had to deal not only with the unrest of her time but also with a scientific environment that at the time was very hostile to women. The focus of her research was studies on phosphate fertilizing, and until her death in 1932 she directed the Institute of Plant Nutrition. In 1934, a memorial stone with the scientists’ academic motto was erected: “I lived with the plants. I put my ear to the ground and it seemed as if the plants were glad to be able to tell something about the secrets of growth.”