Max Weber

Max Weber was born to Max Weber Sr., a prominent lawyer and politician, and Helene Fallenstein, in Erfurt, Prussia. His family was influential in the political and academic circles of the time.

Weber enrolls at the University of Heidelberg to study law, marking the beginning of his academic career and his deepening interest in the social sciences.

Weber successfully passes the bar exam in Berlin, qualifying him to practice law and setting the stage for his future academic and professional pursuits.

Weber completes his doctoral thesis on the development of medieval trading companies and is awarded a doctorate in law from the University of Berlin.

Weber marries Marianne Schnitger, a distant cousin and a pioneering feminist, who would later become a noted intellectual and author in her own right.

Weber is appointed as a professor of economics at the University of Freiburg, where he delivers his inaugural lecture on the 'Objectivity in Social Science and Social Policy.'

Weber experiences a severe nervous breakdown, likely exacerbated by his father's death, which leads to a prolonged period of illness and a temporary withdrawal from academic life.

Weber travels to the United States, where he attends the World's Fair in St. Louis and conducts research on American society and institutions, which influences his later work.

Weber publishes his seminal work, 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,' which explores the relationship between Protestantism and the development of modern capitalism.

In the aftermath of World War I, Weber becomes a vocal advocate for democratic reforms in Germany, participating in the drafting of the Weimar Constitution and giving lectures on the future of German democracy.

Max Weber dies of pneumonia in Munich, leaving behind a profound legacy in sociology, economics, and political science, and a vast body of influential work.