The Georgia Augusta, founded in 1737 by King George II of Britain in his capacity as Elector of Hanover, has shaped Göttingen so completely that the two are inseparable. Forty-five Nobel laureates have worked or studied here. The mathematicians and physicists alone — Gauss, Riemann, Hilbert, Born, Heisenberg, Noether, Planck (briefly), Oppenheimer (briefly as a doctoral student) — make up an honour roll without parallel in any other European university.
The main university buildings are scattered across the Altstadt and the modern campus to the north. The Auditorium on Wilhelmsplatz, the central library, and the various departmental institutes are open during the day; the Aula, where doctorates are conferred, is open for tours and concerts. The university museum on the ground floor of the central building has a permanent display on the institution's history.