Portrait of Gustav Friedrich Wucherer

The only portrait of a professor among these 100 objects on the history of KIT is that of Gustav Friedrich Wucherer (1780–1843). As director, he oversaw the founding of Karlsruhe Polytechnical College, which was established in October 1825. His teaching at Freiburg University as professor of physics in addition to his role as municipal pastor had qualified this Protestant clergyman for the task. From 1818 to 1822, Wucherer had also run a polytechnical institute in Freiburg at his own initiative, which served as a precursor to the Karlsruhe college. This experimental institution in Freiburg had primarily focused on vocational training and took the first step toward designing a canon of polytechnical subjects. The curriculum of Karlsruhe Polytechnical College reflected the same emphasis on mathematics and, in particular, descriptive geometry. Wucherer directed Karlsruhe Polytechnical College until 1834. His departure as director was related to the college’s constitution introduced in 1832, which, among other changes, brought about self-governance by faculty boards. This as well as the introduction of annual elections of the director from among the teaching staff was the beginning of a process toward assuming the organizational structure of a university. This reorganization motivated Wucherer to return to his professorship in Freiburg. kn