University of Basel

university, Basel, Switzerland

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June 22, 2026

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The University of Basel, founded in 1460, is the oldest university in Switzerland. It was established by Pope Pius II and became a significant center for humanism and the Protestant Reformation, partly due to the teaching of Desiderius Erasmus. The university's library holds important manuscripts from religious reformers. Notable mathematicians like Daniel, Jakob, and Johann Bernoulli, as well as Leonhard Euler, have connections to Basel. The university is located in Basel, a city in northern Switzerland situated on the Rhine River near the borders of France and Germany.12

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Jacob Burckhardt
Life
The University of Basel awarded Burckhardt the degree of Ph.D. in absentia, and after his return from Berlin in 1843 he was quickly authorized to give private lectures. Lecture he did, but for two years he had to earn his living as the editor of the…
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The University of Basel awarded Burckhardt the degree of Ph.D. in absentia, and after his return from Berlin in 1843 he was quickly authorized to give private lectures. Lecture he did, but for two years he had to earn his living as the editor of the…
Read More

Basel
The city’s university, the first in Switzerland, was founded in 1460 by Pope Pius II, who had been in Basel for the celebrated Ecumenical Council (1431–49). In 1501 Basel was admitted into the Swiss Confederation. With the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus teaching at the university (1521–29),…
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The city’s university, the first in Switzerland, was founded in 1460 by Pope Pius II, who had been in Basel for the celebrated Ecumenical Council (1431–49). In 1501 Basel was admitted into the Swiss Confederation. With the Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus teaching at the university (1521–29),…
Read More