Online editions on personal history

The University Archives presents online directories of important groups of people in the University's history:
Directory of Professors (1828-2021), Directory of Honorary Promoters (1900-2018), Directory with List of Students (1828-1945), Biographical Dictionary of PhD Students (1900-1945).

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Wichtige Themen im Überblick

The honorary doctors 1900-2023

From 1900 to 2023, 451 personalities from science, culture and art, as well as from other areas of society, were awarded honorary doctorates at TU Dresden. The first honorary doctorate was awarded to the inventor and entrepreneur Friedrich Siemens, a brother of Werner v. Siemens. In retrospect, it should be noted that some of the honorary doctorates would not have been awarded by today's standards. In the knowledge of its responsibility for a reflective approach to its past, the TU Dresden is committed to further scientific and legal consideration of this topic, taking into account the specific temporal context.

The professors 1828-2023

Thousands of professors have in the past and present taught at Alma Mater dresdensis. All of them have been recorded in an online directory. Anyone who would like to find out more about their former professors, and perhaps also about new appointments, will find this information here.

The doctoral students 1900-1945

The doctoral students are the most important ambassadors of the university. In a specific project, the biographies of all PhD students from the period of 1900 to 1945 have been indexed. Among them are personalities who have made significant contributions, such as the doctoral student Edmund Frohne (1891-1971), later first president of the German Federal Railway. Picture left Edmund Frohne, right Ludwig Erhard.

The students 1828-1887

In the almost 190jährigen history of the TU Dresden about 250,000 students have studied. Did you know that the famous Friedrich v. Heyden (1838-1926), who for the first time industrially produced salicylic acid in his chemical factory, had studied at the Dresden Polytechnic?

Promotionsfeier 1937 unter Prof. Barkhausen

Personal history online

In the online directory of honorary doctoral students for the period of 1900 to 2018 all honorary doctorates are recorded. Among them are renowned scientists, inventors, entrepreneurs, managers and politicians. For the lexicon, the records of the University Archives, the Saxon State Archives, the Federal Archives and the SLUB were analysed. In retrospect, it should be noted that some of the honorary doctorates are to be understood exclusively from their concrete temporal context and would not have been awarded after today's evaluations. Knowing their responsibility for a reflective treatment of their past, a further scientific and legal consideration of this topic is an obligation for the TU Dresden. The lexicon is constantly updated.
With the list of professors, the already published print encyclopaedias of the professors (2003 for TU Dresden and 2003/2015 for the Faculty of Medicine) are constantly being updated. A total of over 3.400 records of professors from a period of almost two centuries were recorded in short form (personal data, area of appointment, appointment date, date of retirement). This database is the official public proof of the past and present appointments. The University Archives, together with their database, records, and the Weichold professor's catalogue secures the sources for these lexicons, and is available to advanced research for scientists, journalists, students and not least every interested citizen. As of September 2017, the complete list of TUD professors will be available for research in the past and present.
In the online encyclopaedia of the doctoral candidates, all regular doctoral students of TH Dresden (total: 2.288) from the period of 1900 to 1945 are recorded with their biographies. The lexicon was developed mainly on the basis of the archival sources of the University Archives, the SLUB and the Saxon State Archives. The biographies show that the doctoral students have carried the excellent reputation of their alma mater all over the world, which has always been exemplary for its practical orientation, and have contributed to the fact that Saxony became a "country of engineers". It is planned to continue the encyclopaedia for the period after 1945.
An online directory contains records of the students of Königlich Sächsische Technische Bildungsanstalt Dresden [Royal Technical Educational Establishment] until Königlich Sächsisches. Polytechnikum [Royal Polytechnic School] (predecessors of TU Dresden) for the period of 1828 to 1887. Among them are many future successful entrepreneurs. At the beginning of 2017, this online directory will be expanded with all students of TH Dresden until the matriculation year 1950.
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