The Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow (DI) conducts multidisciplinary and historically comprehensive research on Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe from the Middle Ages to the present. Its research adopts a pan-European perspective and includes the regions of Jewish emigration, particularly Israel, as well as North and Latin America. Through events, university teaching, and a wide range of publications, the research findings are communicated to both academic audiences and the interested public. A stated goal is to conduct high-level humanities research and to enhance societal differentiation and critical thinking through the transfer of knowledge by conveying scientific insights.

Physical research in Leipzig dates back to 1557 when a professorship for physics was established. In the 18th century, even Saxon princes traveled from Dresden to witness impressive demonstrations of electrical charges and discharges. In 1835, the University of Leipzig (UL) established “one of the first, if not the first, state physics institutes in Germany” (according to Otto Wiener). In 1905, the largest physics institute building in Germany at the time was inaugurated on Linnéstraße. In the 1920s, the institute was led by Peter Debye (Nobel Prize 1936), Werner Heisenberg (Nobel Prize 1933), and Friedrich Hund. The fundamental principles of quantum mechanics and its applications in solid-state physics, nuclear physics, and chemistry were largely developed in Leipzig. After World War II, Gustav Hertz (Nobel Prize 1925) rebuilt the building and the research operations.

The Max Planck Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences (MPI CBS) is an internationally renowned research institute into the fundamentals of human cognition. The main focus of the research is on fundamental mechanisms of human thinking and the neural foundations of higher brain functions such as language, memory, orientation, music, and communication. Furthermore, the plastic change capacity of the brain and its influence on various cognitive abilities are examined, as well as the neuronal and hormonal basis of diseases of civilization such as high blood pressure and obesity.

With over 2,600 public botanical collections worldwide, housing more than 300 million plant specimens, the Leipzig Herbarium stands as one of the most historically significant. It was founded in 1806 by Chr. F. Schwägrichen (1775–1853) and is the oldest university herbarium in Germany. The collection is primarily a research collection, with subcollections specifically designed for student education. As a service to the public, the herbarium offers species identification, provides cultivation recommendations for plants, and suggests measures to combat phytoparasitic fungi.

In 1710, the University of Leipzig appointed its first “Professor of Chemistry.” Approximately a century later, the university inaugurated its first chemical laboratory. By the next century, Leipzig had firmly established itself as a distinguished center of research and education, recognized globally for its academic excellence. Wilhelm Ostwald received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909 for his research at Leipzig, and four alumni from the university — August Arrhenius (1903), Walther Hermann Nernst (1920), as well as Friedrich Bergius and Carl Bosch (1931) — were also awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The Botanical Garden at Leipzig University is the oldest of its kind in Germany and is considered one of the oldest gardens in Europe, along with Pisa, Padua and Florence. In its more than 450-year history, it has been relocated four times within the city limits of Leipzig. Since 1877 it resides at its current location in Linnéstraße. Today, the Botanical Garden is a garden of diversity. It is not only used for teaching and research, but also as a space for fostering interaction and a meeting place for knowledge transfer between the university and society.

The Leipzig Institute of Meteorology (LIM) has a tradition of over 100 years in meteorological and climatological research. Today, it is a recognized international center for meteorological research and teaching in the field of meteorology and climatology. The institute is an integral part of Leipzig University’s Children’s University and has its own blog for children (Mia’s Climate Diary). It is also an important part of the Long Night of Sciences and provides an overview of the currently measured weather from the measuring meadow in front of the institute and the institute tower on the website, and displayed on a screen in the building.

The medical history collections at the Karl Sudhoff Institute go back to the fundamental Leipzig research work of Karl Sudhoff (1853 – 1938). Since then, the collection has been continuously expanded through purchases, donations, and bequests. Most of the objects date from the last decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. A small part even dates back to the 16th century. Selected objects and special exhibitions can now be seen in new premises on the campus of the University Medical Center.

Thanks to the work of generations of geoscientists at the Institute and donations from important collectors and patrons, the Geological-Palaeontological Collection at Leipzig University has grown into one of the largest and most important fossil and rock collections in the German university landscape. Today, the teaching and research repository contains around 85,000 items, spread across 1,780 collection drawers in 110 collection cabinets. The items in the collection bring the diverse geological past of Saxony and Central Germany to life. Since mid-May 2019, they can once again be admired in their historic rooms. Regular events and special exhibitions provide the general public with geoscientific and palaeontological knowledge about Saxony, Central Germany and the world.

In 1778, Samuel Heinicke opened the first German public school for the education of the deaf. Arguably, it was the first oral school for the deaf in the world.

In general, maps serve to impart knowledge, act as orientation aids in the terrain, are contemporary witnesses, and often also works of art. They document current and historical conditions of topographical and thematic content of any kind. The Geoscientific Map Collection of the Institute of Geography is a teaching collection comprising over 33,000 inventoried maps, atlases, travel and specialist literature, and explanatory notes. The majority of the objects (approx. 26,900) are recorded electronically, can be accessed internally in a database, or are also available online. The premises of the collection can be visited by appointment or during the opening hours of the collection.

The collection of the first Zoological Museum was opened in 1837 by the first Chair of Zoology, Eduard Friedrich Poeppig. From 1907, the taxidermist Hermanus Hendrikus ter Meer from Leiden made a decisive contribution with the dermoplastic technique: this made it possible to prepare vertebrates in a proportionate and therefore lifelike manner. In the 1960s a large part of the collection was transferred to other museums, in particular the Leipzig Natural History Museum.

The Henriette Goldschmidt School was founded in 1911 by Henriette Goldschmidt at its current location in Leipzig. It was the first university in Germany to give women and girls the opportunity to acquire a scientifically based education, as well as the self-esteem and opportunity of financial independence entailed by a profound professional education — a privilege not widely available in that period. Presently, the school is a modern school centre for professional education of podologists, childcare and healthcare support workers, and a city college for health care and social professions.