Bornheim and the World – 1050 Years of Bornheim

How it all began

There was not much happening in Bornheim when it was first mentioned in a document in the year 976. In the middle of the forest, a few farmers had settled. Landau did not yet exist, and the familiar view of Madenburg, Trifels, and Reitburg was also not yet there. These castles were only built in the 11th and 12th centuries. Hambach Castle, Speyer Cathedral, and Limburg were also constructed at the beginning of the 11th century. Villa Ludwigshöhe, by contrast, was not built until 1846. Important nearby cities at that time were Worms and Speyer.

Major technical inventions and developments in Germany

In 1282, the Hanseatic League was founded.
In 1450, Johannes Gutenberg invented printing.
In 1505, Peter Henlein invented the pocket watch.
In 1516, the beer purity law was introduced.
In 1650, Otto von Guericke invented the air pump.
In 1817, Karl von Drais developed the running machine, a precursor of the bicycle.
In 1840, Justus von Liebig introduced mineral fertilizers.
In 1861, Philipp Reis developed the telephone.
In 1876, Nicolaus Otto created the four-stroke engine.
In 1886, Carl Benz built the first automobile.
In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays.
In 1922, Hans Riegel in Bonn invented gummy bears.
In 1941, Konrad Zuse built the first computer.
In 1958, Artur Fischer invented the wall plug.
In 2020, BioNTech developed an mRNA vaccine against Covid-19.

Prominent scientists and artists

Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), a universal scholar of the Middle Ages, wrote important works on medicine.
Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528), a brilliant graphic artist, refined woodcut and copperplate engraving.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), a universal genius of the Renaissance, created the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world.
Isaac Newton (1643–1727) described the laws of gravity and motion.
Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was a natural scientist and co-founder of geography.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) was a major composer of classical music.
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) explained the origin of species through evolution.
Marie Curie (1867–1934) discovered radioactivity and was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize.
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) developed the theory of relativity, E = mc², one of the most famous formulas in the world, and received the Nobel Prize for the photoelectric effect.
Lise Meitner (1878–1968) discovered nuclear fission together with Otto Hahn in 1938.