ENJOYING THE NORTHERN STAR & DIGION GASTRONOMY

Joseph de Ca'th Lon continues enjoying the beautiful city of Digion/Dijon, famous for its gastronomy in general and its mustard in particular.

 

Joseph attended an interesting football match at the Gaston Gérard stadium yesterday and saw the Northern Star in action again. He is very happy for her and proud of her.

It was not just any match but a match of 10, a prelude to the many nights to come where the Northern Star will shine again and again, because these types of stars are destined not only to guide and lead but also to open victorious and successful paths.

This morning, Joseph has been talking to Claire Fontaine and The Grandma who watched the match from their homes and have shared together the immense joy that came to them from seeing yesterday's excellent performance by their most admired star.

In the afternoon, Joseph plans to visit Digion. He will stay until Monday when he will return to Basel and then start a new adventure again, this time in Manchester.

 

Dijon, in Burgundian Digion, is a city in and the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France.

 

The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road between Lyon and Paris. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon became a place of tremendous wealth and power, one of the great European centres of art, learning, and science.

The city has retained varied architectural styles from many of the main periods of the past millennium, including Capetian, Gothic, and Renaissance. Many still-inhabited townhouses in the city's central district date from the 18th century and earlier. Dijon's architecture is distinguished by, among other things, toits bourguignons (Burgundian polychrome roofs) made of glazed terracotta tiles of various colours arranged in geometric patterns.

Dijon holds an International and Gastronomic Fair every year in the northern-hemisphere autumn. Dijon also hosts every three years the international flower show Florissimo. 

 

Dijon has become famous for Dijon mustard, which originated in 1856, when Jean Naigeon of Dijon substituted verjuice, the acidic green juice of not-quite-ripe grapes, for vinegar in the traditional mustard recipe. Dijon is a green city with an important tertiary sector, as well as a regional economic centre with a diversified fabric, a traditional food-processing center (Dijon crême de cassis and kir, gingerbread, Lanvin chocolate...) and a renowned pharmaceutical sector.

On 4 July 2015, UNESCO registered the historical centre of the city as a World Heritage site, as one of the components of the Climats, terroirs of Burgundy site, because of its historical importance in regulating the system of wine production in Burgundy.

The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement called Divio, which may mean sacred fountain, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's apocryphal patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred.

This province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The Duchy of Burgundy was key in the transformation of medieval times toward early modern Europe. The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy now houses the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) and the musée des Beaux-Arts (Museum of Fine Arts).

In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon, which was defended by the governor of the province, Louis II de la Trémoille. The siege was extremely violent, but the town succeeded in resisting the invaders. After long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the Swiss and the Imperial armies to withdraw their troops and also to return three hostages who were being held in Switzerland. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the town's successful resistance and the subsequent withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege, the inhabitants of Dijon began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir. Although a few areas of the town were destroyed, there are nearly no signs of the siege of 1513 visible today. However, Dijon's museum of fine arts has a large tapestry depicting this episode in the town's history: it shows the town before all subsequent destruction, particularly that which occurred during the French Revolution, and is an example of 16th-century art.

 

A system of purified water for the citizens of Dijon was constructed by Henry Darcy a quarter-century before Paris was so supplied.

 

Dijon was also occupied by anti-Napoleonic coalitions in 1814, by the Prussian army in 1870–71, and by Nazi Germany beginning in June 1940, during WWII, when it was bombed by US Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, before the liberation of Dijon by the French Army and the French Resistance, 11 September 1944.

Dijon is situated at the heart of a plain drained by two small converging rivers: the Suzon, which crosses it mostly underground from north to south, and the Ouche, on the southern side of town. Farther south is the côte, or hillside, of vineyards that gives the department its name. Dijon lies 310 km southeast of Paris, 190 km northwest of Geneva, and 190 km north of Lyon.

The A31 provides connections to Nancy, Lille and Lyon. The A39 connects Dijon with Bourg-en-Bresse and Geneva, the A36 with Besançon, Mulhouse and Basel.

 

More information: Burgundy Tourism

 

 My real name is Dijon.

 My mom named me Dijon,

so everybody used to call me Mustard.

 

Mustard

ASTÉRIX LE GAULOIS CHEZ LES BRETONS IN DIGION/DIJON

Joseph de Ca'th Lon has just arrived in Digion to watch the Northern Star, who has an important match today.

 

Digion or Dijon is just over two hours away by car from Basel and Joseph hasn't wanted to miss this new opportunity to enjoy a good football match. The Grandma and Claire Fontaine are in Barcelona taking care of their personal business and won't be there this time, but they will take a break to enjoy this match via Youtube. They are very happy that Joseph can watch it live and they just hope it won't be too cold, although for a Swiss person, that shouldn't be a problem, right?

While waiting for the match to start, The Grandma is reading a new Astérix and Obélix adventure, this time a bit premonitory because our heroes are in Britain.

Astérix in Britain (also known as Astérix in the land of the Britons, translated from French Astérix chez les Bretons) is a French comic story, written by Rene Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo.

It is the eighth story in the Astérix comic book series, and was originally published by Dargaud as a serial for Pilote magazine in 1965, before being released as a comic album in 1966.

The story focuses on Astérix and Obélix travelling to Roman-occupied Britain to help deliver a barrel of magic potion to a rebel Briton village, only to encounter obstacles that hinder their journey. The story featured several references and parodies surrounding British culture and society.

Astérix in Britain received an audiobook adaptation, as well as two film adaptations: an animated film of the same name in 1986; and a live-action film, Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia, in 2012.

As with stories involving encounters with various foreign people, Astérix in Britain makes fun of common English stereotypes, though in the original publication both Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo included a foreword stating that this was done with no intention of insulting France's famous rivals.

The story features several notable references, the most notable being:

-In the story, Astérix and Obélix head for a rugby match, in which one of the teams comes from Camulodunum and wear blue and white uniforms. Camulodunum is the ancient name of Colchester, while the uniforms are based on those wore by the footballers of Colchester United FC. The opposing team they face come from Durovernum. The name references a Roman town and hilltop fort called Durovernum Cantiacorum that became the site for present-day Canterbury.

-The name Mykingdomforanos is a pun on the Shakespearean line my kingdom for a horse from the play Richard III. The name Encyclopaedicus Britannicus is a play on the real-life name of the general knowledge encyclopaedia, the Encyclopædia Britannica.

-In the French version of the comic, Goscinny and Uderzo used literal French translations of English expressions - for example Je dis!, which is the translation of I say! In some of their work with English expressions, they stuck with French grammar rather than English, meaning some adjectives were placed before nouns, rather than after them. For the English translation, translators Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge had several Briton characters speak with a stereotypical upper class English, such as for example This is a jolly rum thing, eh, what?

-The city of Londinium is based on the real-life Roman city that was founded in 47 AD. The comic's creators took some historical liberty in using it for some of the settings used in the comic.

Key Lessons From Asterix In Britain

-Cultural Differences. The book highlights the cultural differences between Ancient Britain and Ancient Gaul (where Astérix and his friends are from). The British have peculiar habits such as drinking hot water with a splash of milk, driving on the left side, and consuming a lot of tea. This teaches us to appreciate and respect different customs and traditions.

-Satire and Humor. Astérix in Britain is known for its witty and satirical humor. It pokes fun at various aspects of British society and stereotypes, such as the British obsession with queues, the class system, and even the British weather. This teaches us to not take ourselves too seriously and to find humor in everyday situations.

-Unity and Resistance. The book highlights the spirit of unity and resistance against foreign invaders. Despite Britain being occupied by the Romans, the British tribes refuse to fully submit and come together to fight against them. This teaches us the importance of standing up for one's beliefs and working together towards a common goal.

-Friendship and Loyalty. Throughout the book, Astérix and his best friend Obélix demonstrate their unwavering loyalty and friendship towards each other. They support and protect one another in times of trouble, showcasing the importance of having strong bonds with those we care about.

-Historical References. Astérix in Britain includes several historical references, such as the construction of Hadrian's Wall and the involvement of Roman Emperor Julius Caesar. These references provide readers with a glimpse into ancient history and can spark an interest in learning more about the time period. It teaches us the value of understanding and appreciating history in order to better comprehend the present. 

Download Astérix in Britain by R. Goscinny & A. Uderzo

The Britons are lovable, 
but they have a strange fascination 

with everything round 
-round tables, round stones, round shields.

Astérix in Britain

REQUIEM IN D MINOR BY WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Today, coinciding with the anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's death, The Grandma has been listening to the Requiem, the last work that this Austrian genius left us.

The Requiem in D minor, K. 626, is a Requiem Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). 

Mozart composed part of the Requiem in Vienna in late 1791, but it was unfinished at his death on 5 December the same year. 

A completed version was delivered to Count Franz von Walsegg, who had commissioned the piece for a requiem service on 14 February 1792 to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of his wife Anna, who had died at the age of 20 on 14 February 1791.

The autograph manuscript shows the finished and orchestrated movement of Introit in Mozart's hand, and detailed drafts of the Kyrie and the sequence, the latter including the Dies irae, the first eight bars of the Lacrimosa, and the Offertory. First Joseph Eybler and then Franz Xaver Süssmayr filled in the rest, composed additional movements, and made a clean copy of the completed parts of the score for delivery to Walsegg, imitating Mozart's musical handwriting but clumsily dating it  1792.

It cannot be shown to what extent Süssmayr may have depended on now lost scraps of paper for the remainder; he later claimed the Sanctus and Benedictus and the Agnus Dei as his own.

Walsegg probably intended to pass the Requiem off as his own composition, as he is known to have done with other works. This plan was frustrated by a public benefit performance for Mozart's widow Constanze. She was responsible for a number of stories surrounding the composition of the work, including the claims that Mozart received the commission from a mysterious messenger who did not reveal the commissioner's identity, and that Mozart came to believe that he was writing the Requiem for his own funeral.

In addition to the Süssmayr version, a number of alternative completions have been developed by composers and musicologists in the 20th and 21st centuries. At least 19 conjectural completions have been made, eleven of which date from after 2005.

The Requiem is scored for two basset horns in F, two bassoons, two trumpets in D, three trombones (alto, tenor, and bass), timpani (two drums), violins, viola, and basso continuo (cello, double bass, and organ). The basset horn parts are sometimes played on conventional B♭ or A clarinets and sometimes the related alto clarinet, even though this changes the sonority.

The vocal forces consist of soprano, contralto, tenor, and bass soloists and an SATB mixed choir.

Süssmayr's completion divides the Requiem into eight sections:

I. Introitus
- Requiem aeternam

II. Kyrie

III. Sequentia
-Dies irae
-Tuba mirum
-Rex tremendae
-Recordare
-Confutatis
-Lacrymosa

IV. Offertorium

-Domine Jesu

-Hostias

V. Sanctus

VI. Benedictus

VII. Agnus Dei

VIII. Communio
-Lux aeterna
-Cum sanctis tuis

All sections from the Sanctus onwards are not present in Mozart's manuscript fragment. Mozart may have intended to include the Amen fugue at the end of the Sequentia, but Süssmayr did not do so in his completion.

The eccentric count Franz von Walsegg commissioned the Requiem from Mozart anonymously through intermediaries. The count, an amateur chamber musician who routinely commissioned works by composers and passed them off as his own, wanted a Requiem Mass he could claim he composed to memorialize the recent passing of his wife.

Mozart received only half of the payment in advance, so upon his death his widow Constanze was keen to have the work completed secretly by someone else, submit it to the count as having been completed by Mozart and collect the final payment.

Joseph von Eybler was one of the first composers to be asked to complete the score. He worked on the movements from the Kyrie up until the Lacrymosa, carefully adding his additions to the incomplete manuscript while mimicking Mozart's handwriting. In addition, a striking similarity between the openings of the Domine Jesu Christe movements in the requiems of the two composers suggests that Eybler at least looked at later sections. After this work, he felt unable to complete the remainder and gave the manuscript back to Constanze Mozart.

The task was then given to another composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Süssmayr added his own orchestration to the movements from the Kyrie onward, completed the Lacrymosa, and added several new movements which a Requiem would normally comprise: Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. He then added a final section, Lux aeterna by adapting the opening two movements which Mozart had written to the different words which finish the Requiem Mass, which according to both Süssmayr and Mozart's wife was done according to Mozart's directions.

More information: The Classic Review

 Nevertheless the passions, whether violent or not, 
should never be so expressed as to reach t
he point of causing disgust; and music, 
even in situations of the greatest horror, 
should never be painful to the ear 
but should flatter and charm it, 
and thereby always remain music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

...EL MOT ÉS TEU I EL PENSAMENT NINGÚ NO EL MANA...

Respira fort, que l'aire és teu
i l'aire i tot et poden prendre.
Un cop ja l'hagis respirat
és carn com tu,
és alè teu que no es pot vendre.
Respira fort, que l'aire és teu.

Trepitja fort, que el lloc és teu!
On hi ha el teu peu no n'hi cap d'altre.
La terra té per a tothom
camins oberts.
Fuig de qui vulgui entrebancar-te.
Trepitja ferm, que el lloc és teu!

Parla ben clar, que el mot és teu
i el pensament ningú no el mana.
Si creus la teva veritat
llança-la al vent
i que s'arbori com la flama.
Parla ben clar, que el mot és teu!

 

Breathe hard, for the air is yours
and the air and everything can take you.
Once you have breathed it
it is flesh like you,
it is your breath that cannot be sold.
Breathe hard, for the air is yours.

 

Step hard, for the place is yours!
Where your foot is, there is no other.
The earth has open paths for everyone.
Run away from anyone who wants to trip you.
Step hard, for the place is yours!

 

Speak clearly, for the word is yours
and no one commands the thought.
If you believe your truth
throw it into the wind
and let it rise like a flame.
Speak clearly, for the word is yours!

 

 

 

 Estic molt contenta perquè a casa 
m'han protegit molt i m'han deixat 
fer la meva vida sense imposicions.

I'm very happy because at home 
they have protected me a lot and let me 
live my life without any impositions.

Joana Raspall i Juanola

(1 July 1913-4 December 2013)

EMMELINE FREDA DU FAUR, THE PASSION FOR CLIMBING

Today, The Grandma has received wonderful news of one of her closest friends, Tonyi Tamaki, the Kiwi from Rotorua.

It's been two long years since The Grandma visited her in Auckland, coinciding with the FIFA Women's World Cup. Now it's summer in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Tonyi has decided to spend the Christmas holidays with her Catalan friends whom she has known since one day she landed in Barcelona in 2018 to play rugby in a very nearby town, cradle of this sport in Catalan lands.

The Grandma is very happy with this upcoming visit and is already preparing a series of activities to enjoy a wonderful Christmas on the European continent visiting France and Switzerland, where Joseph de Ca'th Lon awaits them.

Tonyi lives in a country where nature is present in every corner and as a great lover of mountains, she likes climbing and hiking, a hobby she shares with The Grandma and Claire Fontaine, as well as ornithology and scuba diving.

Precisely, on a day like today in 1910, Emmeline Freda Du Faur, the Australian mountaineer, was credited as the first woman to climb Aoraki/Mount Cook, the New Zealand's tallest mountain.

More information: Wild

Emmeline Freda Du Faur (16 September 1882-13 September 1935) was an Australian mountaineer, credited as the first woman to climb New Zealand's tallest mountain, Aoraki/Mount Cook. 

Du Faur was a leading amateur climber of her day. She was the first female high mountaineer known to be active in New Zealand, although she never lived there.

Du Faur was born in Croydon, Sydney, on 16 September 1882. She was the daughter of Frederick Eccleston Du Faur (1832-1915), a public servant who, after retirement, became a stock, station, and land agent, and patron of the arts, and his second wife, Blanche Mary Elizabeth Woolley (1845–1906), daughter of Professor John Woolley and sister of Emmeline M. D. Woolley.

Du Faur was educated at Sydney Church of England Girls Grammar School. She probably developed her passion for mountaineering when she lived with her family near the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. As a young woman, she explored the area and taught herself to rock climb. She did not finish nursing training due to her sensitive and highly-strung nature. Thanks to an inheritance from her aunt Emmeline, she had an independent income that enabled her to travel and climb.

Du Faur summered in New Zealand. In late 1906, she saw photographs of Aoraki/Mount Cook at the New Zealand International Exhibition in Christchurch. This prompted her to travel to the Hermitage hotel at Mount Cook Village, where she became determined to climb to the snow-capped summit, managing to do so four years later.

In 1908, a second trip to Aoraki/Mount Cook led to Du Faur's introduction to a New Zealand guide, Peter Graham. Graham agreed to teach Du Faur ropework and add snow and ice climbing to her skill on rocks. Du Faur found this freedom an enjoyable escape from the constraints and frustrations of family and society.

In 1909, Du Faur returned to undertake several climbs of increasing difficulty, the first of which was a significant ascent of Mount Sealy on 19 December 1909. Though these climbs were intended to be just Graham and Du Faur, social norms of propriety at the time did not look kindly on an overnight climbing expedition composed solely of an unmarried woman and a male guide. Thus, a chaperone was enlisted, and Du Faur committed to wearing a skirt to just below the knee over knickerbockers and long puttees while she climbed. Still, she received criticism from both men and women for her choices in athleticism and dress.

Following her notoriety, she would dispense with a chaperone but retain her customary climbing attire. It pleased her that her attire afforded an element of femininity to upset critics and challenge existing stereotypes of physically active women.

In 1910, Du Faur spent three months at the Dupain Institute of Physical Education in Sydney training with Muriel "Minnie" Cadogan (1885-1929), who became her life partner. After the training, Du Faur returned to Aoraki/Mount Cook in November 1910.

On 3 December 1910, Du Faur became the first woman to climb to the summit of Aoraki/Mount Cook, New Zealand's highest peak at 3,760 metres. Her guides included Peter and Alex (Alec) Graham, and together they ascended in a record six hours.

On the return trip from the summit, Du Faur was photographed in front of a boulder to commemorate the historic climb. The boulder, now called Freda's Rock is located approximately 200 metres into the Hooker Valley Track at Mount Cook National Park.

Du Faur made many other noteworthy climbs. In the same season as her Aoraki/Mount Cook ascent in 1910, she climbed Mounts De la Beche (2,979 metres) and Green (2,828 metres), and was the first person to climb Chudleigh (2,944 metres).

In the next climbing season, she scaled a virgin peak now named Du Faur Peak (2,330 metres) after her. She also made the first ascents of Nazomi (2,925 metres) and Mount Dampier (3,420 metres), and the second ascents of Mount Tasman (3,497 metres) and Mount Lendenfeld (3,192 metres).

In her final season, she made the first ascents of Mount Pibrac (2,567 metres) and Mount Cadogan (2,398 metres)), both of which she named. Perhaps her most notable climb was in January 1913 with Peter Graham and David (Darby) Thomson, when they made the first grand traverse of all three peaks of Aoraki/Mount Cook. This grand travers' is now regarded as a classic climb of New Zealand's Southern Alps and continues to be associated with Du Faur's name.

On 10 February 1913, the same climbing party made the first traverse of Mount Sefton (3,149 metres). Du Faur stopped climbing the next month.

Du Faur and her partner, Muriel Cadogan, moved to England in 1914, spending time in Bournemouth. Though they had intended to climb the European Alps, Canada, and the Himalayas, World War I put an end to their plans. The following year, Du Faur published her book The Conquest of Mount Cook in London. It proved important for its record of her mountaineering feats and her approach to climbing.

In June 1929, Cadogan died. Du Faur returned to Australia, where she lived in Dee Why, Sydney. At first, she lived with her brother's family and later in her own cottage. Her main interest was bushwalking in Dee Why and Collaroy. She suffered from depression at the loss of Cadogan, and on 13 September 1935, she fatally poisoned herself by inhaling a quantity of coal gas.

She had been, in 1908, the principal beneficiary of her aunt Emmeline's will and her own will, benefiting Jean Lord, was contested by relatives who disputed her sanity. The Coroner, after examining Du Faur's notebook and several letters, denied the claim, finding her the opposite of insane.

Du Faur was privately interred in the Church of England cemetery at Manly, Sydney.

More information: Stories Of Her

I was the first unmarried woman to climb 
in New Zealand and in consequence, 
I received all the hard knocks, 
until one day when I awoke more or less famous 
in the mountaineering world, 
after which I could and I’d do exactly 
as seemed to me best… I gained the summit… 
feeling very little, very lonely and much inclined to cry.

Emmeline Freda du Faur 

THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG IN SAXONY OPENS IN 1409

Today, The Grandma has finished reading Freedom, a very interesting book written by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in which she reflects on her personal and political life and the great European challenges she had to face from her position of power.

The Grandma has been literally captivated by this book, which she believes is recommended reading to understand the European Union and the global challenges that face us.

Merkel reflects on freedom and it is not surprising that she does so because her point of view as a woman who lived in the GDR and who experienced the fall of the Wall is different from what we could have from the other side of it.

One of the most significant aspects of the Eastern countries is the great educational background that their inhabitants have. Merkel is a politician with an impressive cultural and educational background, very far from today's political mediocrity.

One of the centres where she studied was the prestigious University of Leipzig, which opened on a day like today in 1407 and which, in addition to having Angela Merkel as a student, also had other very significant ones such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Nietzsche, Robert Schumann or Richard Wagner.

More information: Brussels Institute for Geopolitics

Leipzig University, in German Universität Leipzig, in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university by consecutive years of existence in Germany.

The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Elector of Saxony and his brother William II, Margrave of Meissen, and originally comprised the four scholastic faculties. Since its inception, the university has engaged in teaching and research for over 600 years without interruption.

Famous alumni include Angela Merkel, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Leopold von Ranke, Friedrich Nietzsche, Robert Schumann, Richard Wagner, Tycho Brahe, Georgius Agricola. The university is associated with ten Nobel laureates, most recently with Svante Pääbo who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2022.

The university was modelled on the University of Prague, from which the German-speaking faculty members withdrew to Leipzig after the Jan Hus crisis and the Decree of Kutná Hora. The Alma mater Lipsiensis opened in 1409, after it had been officially chartered by Pope Alexander V in his Bull of Acknowledgment on (9 September of that year). Its first rector was Johannes Otto von Münsterberg. From its foundation, the Paulinerkirche served as the university church. After the Reformation, the church and the monastery buildings were donated to the university in 1544. In order to secure independent and sustainable funding, the university was endowed with the lordship over nine villages east of Leipzig (university villages). It kept this status for nearly 400 years until land reforms were carried out in the 19th century.

Like many European universities, the University of Leipzig was structured into colleges (collegia) responsible for organising accommodation and collegiate lecturing. Among the colleges of Leipzig were the Small College, the Large College, the Red College (Rotes Kolleg, also known as the New College), the college of our Lady (Frauenkolleg) and the Pauliner-College (Pauliner Kolleg). There were also private residential halls (bursen). The colleges had jurisdiction over their members. The college structure was abandoned later and today only the names survive.

During the first centuries, the university grew slowly and was a rather regional institution. This changed, however, during the 19th century when the university became a world-class institution of higher education and research.

At the end of the 19th century, important scholars such as Bernhard Windscheid (one of the fathers of the German Civil Code) and Wilhelm Ostwald (viewed as a founder of modern physical chemistry) taught at Leipzig.

Leipzig University was one of the first German universities to allow women to register as guest students. At its general assembly in 1873, the Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein thanked the University of Leipzig and Prague for allowing women to attend as guest students. This was the year that the first woman in Germany obtained her JD, Johanna von Evreinov.

During the decline and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th and first decade of 20th century together with some other German universities Leipzig University turned into one of the centers of higher education for state administrations and elites of newly independent Balkan states (Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia) educating over 5,500 students from the region in 1859–1909 period.

Until the beginning of the Second World War, Leipzig University attracted a number of renowned scholars and later Nobel Prize laureates, including Paul Ehrlich, Felix Bloch, Werner Heisenberg and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. Many of the university's alumni became important scientists.

Under Nazi rule many degrees of Jews were cancelled. Some were later reinstated as Karl-Marx University degrees by the GDR. Noteworthy Nazis, such as Max Clara (chair of anatomy) taught at the university and were appointed to positions with great authority.

The university was kept open throughout World War II, even after the destruction of its buildings.

By the end of the war 60 per cent of the university's buildings and 70 per cent of its books had been destroyed.

The university reopened after the war on 5 February 1946, but it was affected by the uniformity imposed on social institutions in the Soviet occupation zone. 

In 1948 the freely elected student council was disbanded and replaced by Free German Youth members. The chairman of the Student Council, Wolfgang Natonek, and other members were arrested and imprisoned, but the university was also a nucleus of resistance.

In 1991, following the reunification of Germany, the university's name was restored to the original Leipzig University (Alma mater lipsiensis). The reconstruction of the University Library, which was heavily damaged during the war and in the GDR barely secured, was completed in 2002.

The University Library of Leipzig was established in 1543. It is one of the oldest German university libraries and it serves as a source of literature and information for the Leipzig University as well as the general public in the region. Its extensive historical and special collections are nationally and internationally recognized. The library consists of the main building Bibliotheca Albertina and forty branches situated near their respective academic institutions. The current stock comprises 5 million volumes and about 7,700 periodicals. Collections range from important medieval and modern manuscripts to incunabula, papyri, autographs, ostraka and coins.

The Apel Codex, a manuscript of 16th century music, is housed in the Leipzig University library, as well as the Papyrus Ebers.

The Leipzig University Library also owns parts of the Codex Sinaiticus, a Bible manuscript from the 4th century, brought from Sinai in 1843 by Constantin von Tischendorf. Papyrus Ebers is the longest and oldest surviving medical manuscript from ancient Egypt, dated to around 1600 BC. The Codex contains large parts of the Old Testament and a complete New Testament in ancient Greek, and is one of the most important known manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament and the New Testament. It is the oldest fully preserved copy of the New Testament.

The Oriental Manuscripts of the Leipzig University Library are around 3,200 oriental manuscripts.

In addition to the university library, one of the two centers of the German National Library is based at Leipzig, the collections of which are open to use for academic research.

The original four facilities were the Faculty of Arts, Theology, Medicine, and Law. As of November 2021, the university comprises 14 faculties with institutes and centers associated with each one.

Today, the university has 14 faculties. With over 29,000 students, it is Saxony's second-largest university. There are now more than 150 institutes and the university offers 190 study programs leading to Bachelor's degrees, Master's degrees, Staatsexamen, Diplom (equivalent to master's degree) and Ph.D.s.

More information: Universität Leipzig

 As a 7-year-old child, I saw the Wall being erected. 
No one -although it was a stark violation of international law- 
believed at the time that one ought to intervene militarily 
in order to protect citizens of the GDR and whole Eastern bloc, 
of the consequences of that -namely, 
to live in lack of freedom for many, many years.

Angela Merkel

G. H. HARDY, NUMBER THEORY & POPULATION GENETICS

Today, The Grandma has been reading about G. H. Hardy, the English mathematician who died on this day in 1947.

Mathematics is fundamental to our existence because it is a universal language essential to better understand everything around us.

Godfrey Harold Hardy (7 February 1877-1 December 1947) was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis. 

In biology, he is known for the Hardy-Weinberg principle, a basic principle of population genetics.

Hardy is famed for his 1940 essay A Mathematician's Apology, often considered one of the best insights into the mind of a working mathematician written for the layperson. The novelist Graham Greene ranked it with the notebooks of Henry James as the best account of what it was like to be a creative artist.

Starting in 1914, Hardy was the mentor of the Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, a relationship that has become celebrated. Hardy almost immediately recognised Ramanujan's extraordinary albeit untutored brilliance, and Hardy and Ramanujan became close collaborators.

In an interview by Paul Erdős, when Hardy was asked what his greatest contribution to mathematics was, Hardy unhesitatingly replied that it was the discovery of Ramanujan. He remarked that on a scale of mathematical ability, his ability would be 25, Littlewood would be 30, Hilbert would be 80, and Ramanujan would be 100. In a lecture on Ramanujan, Hardy said that my association with him is the one romantic incident in my life.

G. H. Hardy was born on 7 February 1877, in Cranleigh, Surrey, England, into a teaching family.

Hardy's own natural affinity for mathematics was perceptible at an early age. When just two years old, he wrote numbers up to millions, and when taken to church he amused himself by factorising the numbers of the hymns.

Hardy is credited with reforming British mathematics by bringing rigour into it, which was previously a characteristic of French, Swiss and German mathematics. British mathematicians had remained largely in the tradition of applied mathematics, in thrall to the reputation of Isaac Newton. Hardy was more in tune with the cours d'analyse methods dominant in France, and aggressively promoted his conception of pure mathematics, in particular against the hydrodynamics that was an important part of Cambridge mathematics.

Hardy preferred to work only 4 hours every day on mathematics, spending the rest of the day talking, playing cricket, and other gentlemanly activities.

From 1911, he collaborated with John Edensor Littlewood, in extensive work in mathematical analysis and analytic number theory. This (along with much else) led to quantitative progress on Waring's problem, as part of the Hardy-Littlewood circle method, as it became known. In prime number theory, they proved results and some notable conditional results. This was a major factor in the development of number theory as a system of conjectures; examples are the first and second Hardy-Littlewood conjectures. Hardy's collaboration with Littlewood is among the most successful and famous collaborations in mathematical history.

Aside from formulating the Hardy-Weinberg principle in population genetics, his famous work on integer partitions with his collaborator Ramanujan, known as the Hardy-Ramanujan asymptotic formula, has been widely applied in physics to find quantum partition functions of atomic nuclei (first used by Niels Bohr) and to derive thermodynamic functions of non-interacting Bose-Einstein systems. His work in number theory is also important in cryptography. Though Hardy wanted his maths to be pure and devoid of any application, much of his work has found applications in other branches of science.

He died in 1947, one early morning while listening to his sister read out from a book of the history of Cambridge University cricket. 

More information: The Atlantic

 A mathematician, like a painter or poet, 
is a maker of patterns. 
If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, 
it is because they are made with ideas.

G. H. Hardy