Technical University Leuna Merseburg

History

Technische Hochschule für Chemie Leuna-Merseburg was founded in a ceremony held in Halle (Saale) on 1 September 1954. The first 207 students were registered on 19 October 1954 in the club house of Leuna chemical works, the mathematician Herbert Dallmann (1909–1996) was appointed as the first rector on this occasion, and the foundation stone of the Merseburg campus was laid. Despite the name of the new institution, it never had any facilities in Leuna; the name only referred to the largest chemical plant in the GDR.

The institution was founded with the aim of creating a Technische Hochschule (TH) that offered an application-oriented education in chemistry-related sciences and technology and supported the chemical industry in Central Germany. It can be regarded as a late consequence of the World Wars in the 20th century, and of the economical and political situation of the GDR that required an accelerated development of the industry. Several other institutions of tertiary education were founded at the same time.

Originally intended to be located in Leipzig, the new TH was finally established in the smaller and quieter city of Merseburg, situated between two major chemical plants (Leunawerke with ca. 30000 employees and Buna Werke Schkopau with ca. 20000 employees). It was originally attached to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, in December 1955 it was transferred to the newly founded Ministry of Chemical Industry and finally in February 1958 to the State Secretariat and later Ministry of Higher and Technical Education.

Students' accommodation was provided in dormitories on the campus or in a short distance thereof. Dormitory places not used by THLM students were used for students of the associated specialist Abitur classes or the Industrieinstitut (which prepared industry workers without Abitur for studies at university level) and also for younger staff members.

A festival week was held every five years following the foundation of the THLM. On occasion of its tenth anniversary it was awarded the new name Technische Hochschule für Chemie „Carl Schorlemmer“ Leuna-Merseburg by the Council of Ministers of the GDR, from 1975 on the name was shortened to Technische Hochschule „Carl Schorlemmer“ Leuna-Merseburg.

The library of THLM was the first in the new states of Germany after German Reunification that joined the data network Deutsches Wissenschaftsnetz founded in May 1990. In November 1990 THLM became a member of German Rectors' Conference. The government of Saxony-Anhalt decided in December 1990 to liquidate the institution. The result of an evaluation by the German Council of Science and Humanities in March 1991 was published in June. According to it, the departments of chemistry, process engineering and materials and processing technology were found to perform efficiently and competitively, and should join Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (MLU). Integration was completed in 1993, when the employees of THLM became employees of MUL. Closure of THLM was legally stipulated on 28 February 1992 and juridically completed on 31 March 1993. Incidentally, the last rector, Alfred Göpfert, who had only assumed the office on 14 December 1992, was also a mathematician.

Rectors

Faculties and institutes

Originally, THC was organised into faculties.

After the academic senate had constituted itself in December 1955, Faculty II for Sciences and Supplementary Technological Subjects was founded. It was the predecessor of the later Faculty for Process Engineering and Fundamental Sciences which was formed in September 1958 and was awarded full promotion and habilitation rights in August 1959.

The Faculty for Material Sciences was formed in July 1956 and awarded full promotion and habilitation rights in November 1957. The first doctorate was awarded to Hans-Jürgen Papenfuß in January 1958, the first honorary doctorate in November 1958 to H. H. Franck.

The Faculty for Engineering Economics was also formed in 1956 and was awarded full promotion and habilitation rights in April 1961.

The faculties were subdivided into institutes. Among them were (in order of their opening):

The research department of the pharmaceutical works Fahlberg-List in Magdeburg was attached to THC as Forschungsinstitut Magdeburg in 1955.

Specialist classes for chemistry

THC was the first institution of tertiary education in the GDR to establish specialist Abitur classes in 1964, with a specialist focus on chemistry. There, students who had passed an entrance exam were accepted after finishing the ten-year secondary school, and received specialist instruction in the sciences, in particular in chemistry on top of the ordinary extended secondary school education. They were already integrated into the university structures, attended lectures and seminars and practical claasses in the laboratory, and were to a large extent educated by university teachers.

Restructuring

The university reforms of the late 1960s in the GDR caused changes in the organisational structure towards greater centralisation. Institutes were transformed into sub-departments (Wissenschaftsbereich) and grouped into sections (Sektion) (comparable to departments). The following sections were formed:

New sections were formed in 1972 from the latter two:

In 1976, the Sections of Process Chemistry and of Polymer Sciences were dissolved and partly attached to the Section of Chemistry. At the same time two new sections were formed:

There existed also a Section of Marxism–Leninism which had no students of its own, but provided the then obligatory education in Marxism–Leninism for the students of all other sections.

After the German reunification, the faculty structure was reintroduced. In 1991, the following faculties existed:

Literature