Göttingen

The university was founded in 1734 and became one of the leading centres of mathematics and physics: Gauss, Riemann, Hilbert, Born and Heisenberg all worked here, and the town claims a long list of Nobel laureates connected to it, many marked on plaques on the houses where they lived. In the 1920s the physics institute was central to the development of quantum mechanics. Tradition has doctoral graduates kiss the Gänseliesel, a bronze goose girl on the market square fountain of 1901, after their defence; the practice is officially prohibited and universally ignored. The old town keeps timber-framed houses and the medieval town hall.

What you actually see

• The Gänseliesel - a 1901 fountain figure kissed by new doctors.
• The plaques - houses marked with the scientists who lived in them.
• The physics history - the institute where quantum mechanics developed.
• The old town - timber-framed streets around the medieval town hall.

When to go

April to October; the town is livelier in term time. Museums close Mondays. The old town is compact and walkable.

Honest expectations

Much of the scientific heritage is plaques rather than sites. The old town is small. The city outside it is ordinary.

Nearby

Hann. Münden lies west; Einbeck is north.