July 31, 1527 Birth of Maximilian II in Vienna, Austria. Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor in 1546. He tried to instill tolerance between Catholics and the new Protestants. July 31, 1800 Birth of the chemist Friedrich Wöhler in Eschersheim, Germany on July 31, 1800. It was Wöhler who discovered how to synthesize urea from an inorganic … [Read more...]

July 30, 1855 Birth of Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, a German telecommunications industrialist of the Siemens family. Known as Wilhelm von Siemens, he was a general partner of the family company Siemens. He is credited with championing the Berlin to Iraq railway system that was to be completed about 1915. The direct competition such a railway … [Read more...]

July 29, 1605 Birth of Simon Dach in Memel, Prussia (now Lithuania). Dach was one of the outstanding German Baroque poets. July 29, 1889 Birth of Ernst Reuter in Apenrade, Germany. Reuter was the Mayor of West Berlin during the time of Cold War (1948-1953). Memorable is Reuter’s speech in front of the burned-out Reichstag building on 9 … [Read more...]

July 28, 1750 Death of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) in Leipzig. He was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist of the Baroque Period. He enriched many established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, … [Read more...]

July 27, 1881 Birth of Hans Fischer in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He was an organic chemist. His work from 1921 was almost entirely on the porphyrin group of compounds, which contain four pyrrole rings linked together. His first major success was with haemin, the red non-protein part of hemoglobin. He found the detailed structure and … [Read more...]

July 26, 1815 Birth of Robert Remak in Posen, Prussia (now Poland). Remak was an embryologist who identified and named the three layers of the early embryo. He also discovered the nerve cells of the heart. He was the first Jew to teach at the University of Berlin. July 26, 1842 Birth of Berthold Delbrück in Putbus, Germany. He was a … [Read more...]

July 25, 975 Birth of Dietmar in Hildesheim, Germany. The Saxon Dietmar was an important chronicler of his age and his works are important documentation to the period. July 25, 1564 Death of Ferdinand I in Vienna, Austria. The Spanish-born Habsburg, Ferdinand became the Holy Roman Emperor, and the king of Bohemia and Hungary. In the … [Read more...]

July 24, 1683 The first German settlers leave for the USA on board the Concord. Originally from Krefeld in the Rhine Valley, they spent 73 days on the ship, crossing the ocean. Those 33 immigrants came at William Penn's invitation and founded Germantown, then a city, now a neighborhood of Philadelphia. Their first mayor was a young lawyer … [Read more...]

July 23, 1562 Götz von Berlichingen (also known as Götz of the Iron Hand) dies at Hornberg Castle. He was a German (Franconian) Imperial Knight (Reichsritter) and mercenary. He was born around 1480 into the noble family of Berlichingen in Württemberg. Götz bought Hornberg castle (Neckarzimmern) in 1517, and lived there until his death in 1562. … [Read more...]

July 22, 1784 Birth of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (1784-1846) in Minden, Germany. An astronomer, Bessel measured the position of 50,000 stars and developed the first system of measuring the distance of stars. The asteroid 1552 Bessel was named in his honor. July 22, 1809 Death of the poet, Detlev Liliencron in Alt-Rahlstedt (near … [Read more...]