Wrocław University (; ) is one of nine universities in Wrocław, Poland.

History

The town council established the university in the 16th century - King Ladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary signed the foundation deed. Due to fierce opposition from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, however, the new academic institution was soon closed. After 200 years, around 1702, Emperor Leopold I founded a small Jesuit academy on the same premises and named it, after himself, the Leopoldine Academy.

After Silesia was incorporated into Prussia during the Silesian Wars, the Leopoldine Academy was merged with the Protestant Viadrina University, previously located in Frankfurt (Oder). From the two, the Universitatis Literarum Vratislaviensis, which had been named Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelm-Universität in 1809, was formed and established August 3, 1811. At first it had five faculties - philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology, and Catholic theology.

The university developed very rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, then called the University of Breslau (Universität Breslau). At that time, numerous internationally renown and historically notable scholars lectured at the university, including Johann Dirichlet and Gustav Kirchhoff.

After World War II, the city was occupied by the Soviet Union and given to the People's Republic of Poland, the Germans were largely expelled, and in 1945 the current Polish Wrocław University was founded upon the remains of the German Lower Silesian university. The collection of the university library was burned by the Red Army on May 10 1945, four days after the German garrison surrendered the city.

Notable alumni

• Max Born
• Theodor Mommsen
• Otto Stern

Presidents of the university (after World War II)

• Stanisław Kulczyński - 1945-1951
• Jan Mydlarski - 1951-1953
• Edward Marczewski - 1953-1957
• Kazimierz Szarski - 1957-1959
• Witold Świda - 1959-1962
• Alfred Jahn - 1962-1968
• Włodzimierz Berutowicz - 1968-1971
• Marian Orzechowski - 1971-1975
• Kazimierz Urbanik - 1975- 1981
• Józef Łukaszewicz - 1981-1982
• Henryk Ratajczak - 1982-1984
• Jan Mozrzymas - 1984-1987
• Mieczysław Klimowicz - 1987-1990
• Wojciech Wrzesiński - 1990-1995
• Roman Duda - 1995 - 1999
• Romuald Gelles - 1999-2002
• Zdzisław Latajka - 2002-2005
• Leszek Pacholski - 2005-

External links

• Wrocław University website

Education in Wrocław | Universities and colleges in Poland

Universität Breslau | Universität Breslau | Uniwersytet Wrocławski