20th century: 1970 - 1979

January 10: As part of the academic reform, the Institute for Microbiology and Experimental Therapy (IMET) receives the status of a central institute (ZIMET).

September 1: A new production site of the Carl Zeiss Jena combine for 3,300 workers, including a range of social and cultural facilities, is opened in the Göschwitz district.

December 28: "Block 12", the first eleven-storey residential building in Neulobeda, is handed over to the tenants.

In the large housing estate (Neu-)Lobeda, further social infrastructure facilities such as schools, daycare centers, retail and health facilities as well as a restaurant are built to complement the residential development. Construction of the first apartment blocks begins in Neulobeda-Ost.

July 20: The Landgrafenhaus opens on the Landgrafenberg and becomes one of the most popular restaurants in the Jena area.

The experimental theater "Die Treppe" is foundedunder director and theater scholar Bernd Schmidt. It consists primarily of members of the university.

The photo circle of the Jena university group of the German Cultural Association, which was founded in 1962, is renamed the University Photo Club (UNIFOK). Under its long-standing leader Walter Streit, it achieves supra-regional significance and members of the club win prestigious prizes.

October 2: After three years of construction, a new urban landmark is inaugurated with the 26-storey round tower in the city center. The building, originally designed as a research tower for the Zeiss-Kombinat, is used by the university as a "university tower" with a canteen, open-plan offices and branch libraries until 1995.

Construction of the new Neulobeda-West housing estate is largely completed. Around 5,600 apartments for approx. 21,700 people are built.

May 5: A café is opened on the 26th floor of the university tower, which is open to the people of Jena at weekends.

October 6: In Neulobeda-West, the "Kulturzentrum", a multi-purpose building with a large restaurant, is opened to the public.

The medical college is established. The training facility in Leo-Sachse-Straße, which is linked to the Faculty of Medicine at Friedrich Schiller University, continues the training of nurses and pediatric nurses and medical-technical assistants that has existed in Jena for some time.

March 20: The new transport depot for VEB Kraftverkehr and VEB Städtischer Nahverkehr is handed over in Jena-Burgau.

August 28: To mark the 225th anniversary of Goethe's birth, a reconstruction of the monument erected in 1821 and removed after 1945 is unveiled in Griesbachgarten, which is widely regarded as the first ever Goethe monument (controversial).

October 5: A gallery belonging to the Jena City Museum opens in Lobeda-West.

October 8: Following the completion of reconstruction work, the district police clinic at Dornburger Straße 17 is reopened.

September 23: Jena's population exceeds 100,000 for the first time, giving it the status of a major city.

December 8: The foundation stone is laid for the specialist hospital for internal medicine in Lobeda-Ost.

September 25: The MKF 6 multispectral camera developed by VEB Carl Zeiss Jena is used for the first time on the flight of the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 22.

October 5: An indoor swimming pool is opened to the public at the "Werner Seelenbinder" sports complex in Lobeda-West.

16 November: The expatriation of the poet and songwriter Wolf Biermann provokes a wave of solidarity and protest in the city and at the university. This is followed by arrests and house searches of members of the opposition, convictions and exmatriculations.

December 31: The expanded Optical Museum is opened in the Optical School building at Carl-Zeiß-Platz 12. It is based on the historical collection of optics and glass production initiated by the Carl Zeiss Foundation in 1922.

January 1: The military research and armaments production of the Zeiss combine are combined at the new Göschwitz site in the U combine operation.

January 10: The Thomas Mann bookshop opens in the base of the university tower as Jena's largest bookshop.

August 1: The Jena glassworks Schott & Gen. is incorporated into the VEB Carl Zeiss Jena combine.

August 26: After nine months in the prison of the Ministry of State Security in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen and international protests, civil rights activist Jürgen Fuchs is forced to leave the country under threat of a long prison sentence and deported to West Berlin. Fuchs had been de-registered from Jena University in 1975 for political reasons.

October 22: The "Jena Kernberg Run" takes place for the first time as part of the popular sports running movement.

The glass house in Paradise, designed as a multi-purpose building by architect Friedhelm Schubring, is completed. It is inspired by the German Pavilion built by Mies van der Rohe in 1929 for the World Exhibition in Barcelona.

May 17-20: The I. International Pantomime Workshop takes place in Jena. The spiritus rector is the internationally recognized mime artist Harald Seime, a sports teacher at the university, who founded a mime studio with a group of students in 1958.

September 24: Cosmonauts Waleri Bykowski and Sigmund Jähn - the first German in space - visit Jena and speak to a large crowd on the square in front of the university tower. The square is named "Platz der Kosmonauten" (Cosmonauts' Square) after a decision by the city council in 1979.

October: The orchid fountain, designed by Detlef Reinemer, is installed on the central square.

The restoration work on the remaining historical building fabric of the Collegium Jenense (gate building; inner courtyard) is completedunder the direction of the university curator Günter Steiger. A new inner-city monument complex is created.

June 15-17: The 7th GDR Student Championships take place in Jena's Ernst Abbe Stadium.

October 1: The redesigned memorial site in Cospeda commemorating the battle of 1806 is reopened.