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Economy of Gottingen


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The origins of G�ttingen lay in a village called Gutingi. This village was first mentioned in a document in 953 AD. The city was founded between 1150 and 1200 to the northwest of this village and adopted its name. In medieval times the city was a member of the Hanseatic League and hence a wealthy town.

Today, G�ttingen is famous for its old university (Georgia Augusta, or "Georg-August-Universit�t"), which was founded in 1737 and became the most visited university of Europe. In 1837, seven professors protested against the absolute sovereignty of the kings of Hanover; they lost their offices, but became known as the "G�ttingen Seven". Its alumni include some well-known celebrities: the Brothers Grimm, Heinrich Ewald, Wilhelm Eduard Weber and Georg Gervinus. Also, German chancellors Otto von Bismarck and Gerhard Schr�der went to law school at the G�ttingen University. Karl Barth had his first professorship here. Some of the most famous mathematicians in history, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Bernhard Riemann and David Hilbert were professors at G�ttingen.

Like other university towns, G�ttingen has developed its own quaint traditions. On the day of their doctorate, postgraduate students are drawn in handcarts from the Great Hall to the G�nseliesel-Fountain in front of the Old Town Hall. There they have to climb the fountain and kiss the statue of the G�nseliesel (Goose girl). This practice is actually forbidden, but the law is not enforced. She is considered the most kissed girl in the world. The impressive lion statues which stand nearby at the steps of the town hall are celebrated in Stephen Clackson�s M�rchen "Die Traurigen L�wen von G�ttingen" [1], set eight years after the foundation of the university.

Nearly untouched by Allied bombing in World War II (the informal understanding during the war was that Germany would not bomb Cambridge and Oxford and the Allies would not bomb Heidelberg and G�ttingen), the inner city of G�ttingen is now an attractive
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