The University of Strasbourg (French: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52000 students and 3300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during the Age of Enlightenment.
In the 1970s, the old university was reorganized into three distinct institutions, which were consolidated in 2009. The current University of Strasbourg comprises 35 academic faculties, schools, and institutes, as well as 71 research laboratories spread across six campuses, including the historic site in the Neustadt.
Throughout its existence, Unistra alumni, faculty, or researchers have included 18 Nobel laureates, two Fields Medalists and a wide range of notable individuals in their respective fields. Among them are Goethe, statesman Robert Schuman, historian Marc Bloch and several chemists such as Louis Pasteur.
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History
The university emerged from the Jean Sturm Gymnasium, a gymnasium of Lutheran and humanist inspiration, founded in 1538 by Johannes Sturm in the Free Imperial City of Straßburg. It became a university in 1621 (German: Universität Straßburg) and a royal university in 1631. Among its earliest university students was Johann Scheffler (1624-1677), who studied medicine and later converted to Catholicism and became the mystic and poet Angelus Silesius.