ABSTRACT
In 1737, George II of England, son of Leibniz’s last patron George I, founded
a university in the medieval town of Go¨ttingen located on the Leine River
in central Germany. The city walls, several Gothic churches, and half-
timbered houses on old streets survive to this day in this charming uni-
versity town. Go¨ttingen University has a proud tradition of mathematical
excellence dating back to the nineteenth century, having been home to such
mathematical greats as Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann, Lejeune
Dirichlet, and Felix Klein. But the true glory days for mathematics in
Go¨ttingen came in the twentieth century when, drawn mainly by David
Hilbert’s reputation, students from everywhere came to what remained the
undisputed world center for mathematics until the exodus resulting from
the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933.
