Adorno, Theodore(Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno)

1903 - Adorno was born in Frankfurt, Germany on September 11, 1903.

1920 - Attended the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gymnasium where he was known as a highly gifted student. Graduating at the age of 17 from the Gymnasium at the top of his class and took private lessons in composition with Bernhard Sekles and read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason together with his friend Siegfried Kracauer.

1924 - Completed his studies at the University of Frankfurt.

1925 - Went to Vienna to pursue his interest. Became the editor-in-chief of the magazine Anbruch.

1931 - Landed a job as a teacher at the University of Frankfurt.

1938 - Together with Horkheimer they collaborated on the book Dialectic of Enlightenment, a classic text of critical theory.

1949 - Adorno returned to Frankfurt to re-established the Institute for Social Research.

1952 - Participated in an experiment with other individuals that reveals the residual National Socialist attitudes among Germans.

1961 - Initiated a meeting at the German Sociological Association for a positivism debate.

1964 - Headed the 15th Sociology Confernce.

1969 - Despite warning from his physician, attempted to ascend a 3,000 meter high mountain, resulting in heart palpitations. On August 6, 1969, he died of heart attack.

• "Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public."
• "The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning."
• "Intolerance of ambiguity is the mark of an authoritarian personality."
• "If we value the pursuit of knowledge, we must be free to follow wherever that search may lead us. The free mind is no barking dog to be tethered on a 1-foot chain."
• "Let us talk sense to the American people. Let us tell them the truth, that there are not gains without pains."