Sociologist, political scientist and economist, Ralf Dahrendorf was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1929. He earned degrees in philosophy, classical philology and sociology from Hamburg University and in 1952 he gained a doctorate of philosophy and classics. From 1953 to 1954 he completed postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics. He was a professor of sociology in Hamburg (1957-1960), Tubinga (1960-1964) and Constanza (1966-1969). He was elected to the German parliament for the Free Democratic Party, a liberal political party, and was a Parliamentary Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during Willy Brandt´s first term as Chancellor. In 1970 he was made a Commissioner of the European Commission in Brussels.
