Universität Heidelberg

Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, is a public research university in the city of Heidelberg in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, founded in 1386 on the instruction of Pope Urban VI.海德堡大学（正式名称为鲁普雷希特-卡尔斯-海德堡大学）是德国巴登-符腾堡州海德堡市的一所公立研究型大学，于 1386 年奉教皇乌尔班六世之命创办。

It is the oldest university in Germany and the third established in the Holy Roman Empire after Prague and Vienna, and it has operated as a coeducational institution since 1899.它是德国最古老的大学，也是神圣罗马帝国中仅次于布拉格与维也纳的第三所大学，并自 1899 年起实行男女同校。

The university is composed of twelve faculties offering programmes in about one hundred disciplines, is a German Excellence University, and counts thirty-three Nobel laureates among its affiliates.该校由十二个学部组成，在约一百个学科领域开设课程，是德国卓越大学，并有三十三位诺贝尔奖得主曾与之相关。

History

• The Great Schism of 1378, which divided the papacy between Avignon and Rome, caused German students and teachers in Paris to lose their stipends, creating an opening for Heidelberg to seek its own university.1378 年的天主教会大分裂使教廷分处阿维尼翁与罗马，导致在巴黎的德意志师生失去津贴，为海德堡谋求自己的大学创造了契机。
• On 23 October 1385 Pope Urban VI permitted the creation of a studium generale, and on 26 June 1386 Rupert I, Count Palatine of the Rhine, took the final decision to found the university.1385 年 10 月 23 日教皇乌尔班六世批准设立普通学塾，1386 年 6 月 26 日莱茵普法尔茨伯爵鲁普雷希特一世作出创办大学的最终决定。
• A Pontifical High Mass in the Heiliggeistkirche on 18 October 1386 established the university, and the first lecture was held the next day, making it the oldest in Germany.1386 年 10 月 18 日在圣灵教堂举行的教皇大弥撒确立了大学，次日即举行首次授课，使之成为德国最古老的大学。
• In November 1386 Marsilius of Inghen was elected the first rector, the rector's seal carried the motto semper apertus, and by March 1390 some 185 students had enrolled.1386 年 11 月马西利乌斯·范·英根当选首任校长，校长印章刻有校训「semper apertus」，到 1390 年 3 月已有约 185 名学生注册。
• Between 1414 and 1418 theology and law professors of the university took part in the Council of Constance, advising Louis III and building the institution's reputation.1414 至 1418 年间，该校的神学与法学教授参与了康斯坦茨大公会议，为路易三世出谋划策，从而提升了学校的声誉。
• In 1482 Pope Sixtus IV allowed laymen and married men to be appointed ordinary professors of medicine by papal dispensation, broadening the faculty.1482 年教皇西斯笃四世以教宗特准的方式允许平信徒与已婚者出任医学正教授，从而扩大了师资。
• Martin Luther's disputation at Heidelberg in April 1518 had a lasting impact, and his adherents soon became leading Reformationists in south-west Germany.马丁·路德于 1518 年四月在海德堡的辩驳产生了深远影响，其追随者很快成为德国西南部的改革派领袖。
• In 1563 the Heidelberg Catechism was composed with the collaboration of members of the university's divinity school, a landmark of Reformed theology.1563 年海德堡教理问答在该校神学院成员的协作下编成，成为改革宗神学的里程碑。
• During the Thirty Years' War the famous Bibliotheca Palatina was seized in 1622 and taken to Rome, a major loss for the university library.在三十年战争期间，著名的帕拉丁图书馆于 1622 年被劫掠并运往罗马，是该校图书馆的重大损失。
• Troops of King Louis XIV destroyed Heidelberg almost completely in 1693, and the intellectual and fiscal wealth of the university declined sharply.1693 年路易十四的军队几乎彻底摧毁了海德堡，该校的智力与财力财富急剧衰落。
• In 1803 Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden, reestablished the university as a state institution, and it has borne his name together with that of Ruprecht I ever since.1803 年巴登大公卡尔·弗里德里希将大学重建为国立机构，自此该校便与鲁普雷希特一世共享其名。
• A February 1900 decree of the Grand Duchy of Baden gave women the right to enter universities, making Heidelberg and Freiburg the first German universities to admit women.1900 年二月巴登大公国的一项法令赋予女性进入大学的权利，使海德堡与弗赖堡成为德国最早招收女生的大学。
• On 17 May 1933 faculty and students of the university took part in Nazi book burnings at Universitätsplatz, and the inscription above the New University was changed to the German Spirit.1933 年 5 月 17 日该校师生在大学广场参与了纳粹焚书，新大学正门上方的铭文也被改为「德意志精神」。
• Because Heidelberg was spared destruction in the Second World War, the university was rebuilt quickly and new statutes pledged it to the living spirit of truth, justice and humanity.由于海德堡在第二次世界大战中免于被毁，该校得以迅速重建，新章程使之承诺于真理、正义与人道的活精神。
• In the 1960s and 1970s the university grew dramatically and built the large Neuenheimer Feld campus for medicine and the natural sciences on the city's outskirts.在二十世纪六七十年代该校规模剧增，并在城郊建成了供医学与自然科学使用的大型新内默尔菲尔德校区。
• Heidelberg was appointed a University of Excellence in both 2007 and 2012 under the German Universities Excellence Initiative, joining a small network of well-funded universities.海德堡在 2007 年与 2012 年两度被评定为卓越大学，由此跻身于由高资助大学组成的小型网络。
• In 2001 the university founded a Center for Latin America in Santiago, Chile, to manage postgraduate programmes with local partner universities.2001 年该校在智利圣地亚哥设立拉丁美洲中心，以管理同当地合作大学的研究生项目。
• The Bergheim Campus has housed the faculties of economics, political science and sociology since 2009 and the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies since 2019.贝格海姆校区自 2009 年起容纳经济、政治与社会学等学部，并自 2019 年起设有亚洲与跨文化研究中心。
• In 1816 some 847 German-language manuscripts of the Bibliotheca Palatina returned to Heidelberg, and the Codex Manesse came back from Paris in 1888 as part of an exchange.1816 年帕拉丁图书馆约 847 份德文手抄本回归海德堡，1888 年《马内塞古抄本》也作为交换的一部分从巴黎归来。
• A mass shooting at the university in 2022 killed one woman and injured three other people before the gunman took his own life.2022 年该校发生的一起枪击事件造成一名女性死亡、三人受伤，随后枪手自杀身亡。
• In 1986 the university marked its 600th anniversary, an occasion that also celebrated the institution's centuries-old tie to the city of Heidelberg and its citizens.1986 年该校迎来建校六百周年，这一时刻也庆祝了大学与海德堡市及其市民延续数百年的联系。

Academics

• After a 2003 structural reformation the university is organised into twelve faculties that group numerous disciplines, departments and institutes under a common framework.在 2003 年的结构调整之后，该校由十二个学部组成，在统一框架下汇集了众多学科、系所与研究机构。
• The university enrolls about 29,000 students, of whom more than 20 percent come from abroad, representing some 130 countries around the world.该校约有 2.9 万名学生，其中逾百分之二十来自国外，涵盖全球约 130 个国家。
• It employs more than 15,000 academic staff, most of them physicians at the University Hospital, and counts 476 university professors among its teaching body.该校聘用逾 1.5 万名学术人员，其中多数为大学医院的医师，专任教师中包括 476 位大学教授。
• As a German Excellence University it receives long-term funding through the Excellence Initiative and hosts two Clusters of Excellence on cellular networks and on Asia and Europe.作为德国卓越大学，它通过卓越计划获得长期资助，并主持「细胞网络」与「全球语境中的亚洲与欧洲」两个卓越集群。
• Heidelberg counts thirty-three Nobel laureates among its affiliates and fifty-seven when the wider city of Heidelberg is included, a record unmatched in Germany.海德堡大学有三十三年诺贝尔奖得主曾与之相关，若计入海德堡市则达五十七位，这一纪录在德国无人能及。
• Historical achievements include the invention of spectroscopy and the Bunsen burner and the discovery of the chemical elements caesium and rubidium by its researchers.历史上的成就包括光谱学的发明、本生灯的创制，以及该校研究者对化学元素铯与铷的发现。
• Modern scientific psychiatry, psychopharmacology, environmental physics and modern sociology were all introduced as disciplines by Heidelberg faculty or students.现代精神病学、精神药理学、环境物理学与现代社会学都是由海德堡的教职员或学生作为学科率先建立的。
• The Marsilius Kolleg, founded in 2007 and named after the first rector, promotes interdisciplinary dialogue especially between the sciences and the humanities.以首任校长命名的马西利乌斯学院成立于 2007 年，专门推动科学与人文学科之间的跨学科对话。
• A 2018 funding report of the German Research Foundation ranked Heidelberg second among German universities overall and fourth in the life and natural sciences.德国科学基金会 2018 年的资助报告将海德堡列为德国大学总体第二，在生命与自然科学领域第四。
• The university is a founding member of the League of European Research Universities and the Coimbra Group and partners with institutions such as Tsinghua University and the University of Cambridge.该校是欧洲研究型大学联盟与科英布拉集团的创始成员，并与清华大学、剑桥大学等机构建立了伙伴关系。
• The academic year follows two semesters, with the winter semester running from October to March and the summer semester from April to September.学年分为两个学期，冬季学期从十月到次年三月，夏季学期从四月到九月。
• Admission is selective, with the most competitive undergraduate programmes such as clinical medicine admitting only 3.6 percent of applicants.入学竞争激烈，最热门的本科专业如临床医学仅录取百分之三点六的申请者。
• More than 1,000 doctorates are completed each year and over one third of the doctoral students come from outside Germany.该校每年完成逾千个博士学位，且超过三分之一的博士生来自德国境外。
• Tuition fees that had been charged from 2007 were abolished from the spring term of 2012, in line with the German public subsidy model.自 2007 年起征收的学费于 2012 年春季学期被废止，这符合德国以公共财政补贴高等教育的模式。
• The language of instruction is usually German, though a considerable number of graduate degrees are offered in English and some in French.教学语言通常为德语，不过相当数量的研究生学位以英语授课，部分以法语授课。
• Heidelberg is surrounded by a dense network of non-university research institutions, including the German Cancer Research Center, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and several Max Planck Institutes.海德堡周边聚集着密集的校外研究机构，包括德国癌症研究中心、欧洲分子生物学实验室以及若干马克斯·普朗克研究所。
• The Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies and the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law are based in the city, alongside the University Hospital Heidelberg.海德堡理论研究所与马克斯·普朗克比较公法与国际法研究所都设于该市，另有海德堡大学医院。
• The university's Medical Faculty is closely linked to the German Cancer Research Center, the National Center for Tumor Diseases and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research.该校医学院与德国癌症研究中心、国家肿瘤疾病中心以及马克斯·普朗克医学研究所紧密相连。

Campus

• Heidelberg University's facilities are split between the Old Town Campus, where the humanities and social sciences are embedded, and the New Campus at Neuenheimer Feld on the city's edge.海德堡大学的设施分为老城校区（人文与社会科学所在）与位于城郊新内默尔菲尔德的新校区两部分。
• The Old University is a baroque building between the Hauptstrasse and University Square, containing the historic hall and the university museum, while the New University opened in 1931.老大学是一座位于主街与大学广场之间的巴洛克建筑，内有古老礼堂与大学博物馆，而新大学则于 1931 年启用。
• Neuenheimer Feld is the largest part of the university and the largest campus for natural sciences and life sciences in Germany, housing the medical school and University Hospital Heidelberg.新内默尔菲尔德是该校最大的部分，也是德国最大的自然科学与生命科学校区，设有医学院与海德堡大学医院。
• The Bergheim Campus in the inner-city suburb has held economics, political science and sociology since 2009 and the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies since 2019.位于城内郊区的贝格海姆校区自 2009 年起容纳经济、政治与社会学，并自 2019 年起设有亚洲与跨文化研究中心。
• The Faculty of Physics and Astronomy sits on the Philosophers' Walk across the Neckar and keeps observatory facilities on the Königstuhl mountain above the city.物理与天文学院坐落于内卡河对岸的哲人之路，并在城市上方的国王宝座山保有天文观测设施。
• The University Library system holds about 6.2 million printed volumes across the main library, built of red sandstone from 1901 to 1905, and thirty-eight branch libraries.大学图书馆系统在主馆与三十八个分馆中共藏约 620 万册印刷品，主馆以红砂岩建于 1901 至 1905 年。
• A botanical garden at Neuenheimer Feld supports teaching and research, and the old town retains the university museum and the former student jail as curiosities.新内默尔菲尔德的植物园支撑着教学与研究，老城则保留着大学博物馆与昔日的「学生监狱」作为特色。
• Abroad the university runs the Center for Latin America in Santiago and the South Asia Institute keeps branch offices in New Delhi, Islamabad, Kathmandu and Colombo.在海外该校运营着圣地亚哥的拉丁美洲中心，其南亚研究所则在新德里、伊斯兰堡、加德满都与科伦坡设有分支机构。
• The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy sits on the Königstuhl above the city and the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics lies near the Neuenheimer Feld campus, tying university and non-university research together.马克斯·普朗克天文学研究所位于城市上方的国王宝座山，马克斯·普朗克核物理研究所则靠近新内默尔菲尔德校区，将校内外研究联系在一起。

Reputation

• In the QS World University Rankings 2027 Heidelberg University is placed 86th in the world and is regularly among the top three universities in Germany.在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中，海德堡大学位列世界第 86 位，并常年位居德国高校前三。
• The Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2027 place Heidelberg 45th in the world on a tied basis and third among German universities.2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名将海德堡列于全球并列第 45 位，为德国高校第三。
• The U.S. News Best Global Universities edition of 2026 to 2027 ranks Heidelberg 68th in the world.在 2026 至 2027 年版《美国新闻与世界报道》最佳全球大学排名中，海德堡居世界第 68 位。
• The OpenAlex database attributes 252,649 works to Heidelberg University with 31,519,184 citations, reflecting centuries of continuous scholarship.OpenAlex 数据库为海德堡大学收录 252,649 篇成果，被引 31,519,184 次，体现了其延续数个世纪的学术积淀。
• In the NTU ranking of 2019 Heidelberg was first in Germany and fifth in continental Europe by research output, and in the CWTS Leiden Ranking 2019 it was first in Germany and thirteenth in Europe.在 2019 年 NTU 排名中海德堡以科研产出居德国第一、欧洲大陆第五，而在 2019 年 CWTS 莱顿排名中居德国第一、欧洲第十三。
• By number of Nobel laureates affiliated at the time of the award, Heidelberg ranked first in Germany, fourth in Europe and thirteenth in the world as of 2013.按获奖时与之相关的诺贝尔奖得主人数计，截至 2013 年海德堡居德国第一、欧洲第四、世界第十三。
• The German Research Foundation's 2018 funding report placed Heidelberg second among all German universities, underscoring the quality of its research.德国科学基金会 2018 年的资助报告将海德堡列于全部德国大学第二，凸显了其研究质量。
• Heidelberg was ranked third nationally in the QS World University Rankings 2026 at 80th globally, confirming its standing among the leading German institutions.在 2026 年 QS 世界大学排名中海德堡以全球第 80 位居德国第三，印证了其在德国顶尖学府中的地位。
• As a founding member of the League of European Research Universities it belongs to a small group of Europe's most research-intensive comprehensive universities.作为欧洲研究型大学联盟的创始成员，它属于欧洲研究密集型综合大学中的一小群顶尖机构。

Student life

• The university motto is the Latin phrase Semper apertus, meaning the book of learning is always open, which has guided the institution since the late fourteenth century.该校校训为拉丁文「Semper apertus」，意为「学问之书永远敞开」，自十四世纪末以来一直指引着这所大学。
• The University Sports Club's men's basketball team, USC Heidelberg, has won thirteen national championships and is the only university team playing professionally in Germany's second division.大学体育俱乐部的男子篮球队（USC 海德堡）曾十三次夺得全国冠军，是唯一在职业乙级联赛中参赛的大学球队。
• The student newspaper ruprecht, with editions above 10,000 copies, is one of Germany's largest student-run newspapers and was judged the country's best.学生报纸「ruprecht」每期发行逾一万份，是德国规模最大的学生自办报纸之一，并被评为全国最佳。
• Heidelberg hosts thirty-four student corporations, largely founded in the nineteenth century, some of which still practise the traditional academic fencing duel.海德堡拥有三十四个学生社团，大多创立于十九世纪，其中一些仍保留着传统的学术击剑决斗习俗。
• Sport is broadly offered, from sixteen court sports and eleven martial arts to sailing, rowing and skiing, and most activities are free of charge for students.体育运动项目广泛，从十六种场地项目、十一种武术到帆船、划船与滑雪，多数活动对学生免费。
• Student groups include four drama clubs, the Collegium Musicum orchestra, four choirs and six student media groups that enrich campus culture.学生团体包括四个戏剧社、科利吉姆·穆西库姆乐团、四个合唱团与六个学生媒体小组，丰富了校园文化。
• The Heidelberg Law Review, founded at the university, is Germany's oldest student law review and circulates quarterly throughout the country.创办于该校的《海德堡法律评论》是德国最古老的学生法学期刊，每季度在全国发行。
• Heidelberg is famed for its student night life, with semester opening and closing parties, dormitory celebrations and the soirées of the thirty-four fraternities.海德堡以其学生夜生活闻名，包括学期开学与闭幕派对、宿舍庆祝活动以及三十四家学生社团的沙龙聚会。

Notable people

• Rupert I, Count Palatine, founded the university in 1386 by papal authority, Pope Urban VI issued the founding bull, and Marsilius of Inghen became its first rector that November.莱茵普法尔茨伯爵鲁普雷希特一世于 1386 年凭教宗权威创办该校，教皇乌尔班六世颁布创办敕令，马西利乌斯·范·英根于当年十一月出任首任校长。
• Helmut Kohl, the Chancellor of German Reunification, studied at Heidelberg, one of five German chancellors who attended the university.「统一总理」赫尔穆特·科尔曾就读于海德堡，他是曾在该校求学的五位德国总理之一。
• Three Nobel laureates served on the faculty, Bert Sakmann in 1991 and Harald zur Hausen in 2008 for medicine and Stefan Hell in 2014 for chemistry.三位诺贝尔奖得主曾在校任教：1991 年与 2008 年的医学奖得主伯特·萨克曼、哈拉尔德·楚尔·豪森，以及 2014 年化学奖得主斯特凡·黑尔。
• The philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Jaspers, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Jürgen Habermas all served as professors at Heidelberg.哲学家格奥尔格·威廉·弗里德里希·黑格尔、卡尔·雅斯贝尔斯、汉斯-格奥尔格·伽达默尔与尤尔根·哈贝马斯都曾在海德堡担任教授。
• Natural scientists Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff worked there, as did Hermann von Helmholtz, while Max Weber developed modern sociology as a Heidelberg professor.自然科学家罗伯特·威廉·本生与古斯塔夫·基尔霍夫曾在此工作，赫尔曼·冯·亥姆霍兹亦然，而马克斯·韦伯作为海德堡教授奠定了现代社会学。
• Wilhelm Wundt, regarded as the father of psychology, Alfred Wegener who proposed continental drift, and Dmitri Mendeleev of the periodic table were among its scholars.被誉为心理学之父的威廉·冯特、提出大陆漂移说的阿尔弗雷德·魏格纳以及元素周期表的德米特里·门捷列夫都曾是该校学人。
• Pope Pius II, formerly Æneas Silvius Piccolomini, served as chancellor of the university in his capacity as provost of Worms before his papacy.教皇庇护二世（即先前的埃内亚·西尔维奥·皮科洛米尼）在就任教宗前以沃尔姆斯主祭身份出任过该校校监。
• The composer Robert Schumann, the Philippine national hero José Rizal and the novelist W. Somerset Maugham were among the writers connected with Heidelberg.作曲家罗伯特·舒曼、菲律宾民族英雄何塞·黎萨尔以及小说家威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆都是与海德堡相关的文人。
• At least eighteen Leibniz laureates have been affiliated with the university, reflecting its strength across the natural and social sciences.至少十八位莱布尼茨奖得主曾与该校相关，体现了它在自然科学与社会科学领域的实力。
• Heidelberg's partnership with Tsinghua University and its Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies mark a sustained engagement with Chinese and wider Asian scholarship.海德堡与清华大学的伙伴关系以及其亚洲与跨文化研究中心，标志着它对中国与更广亚洲学术的持续投入。