The son of Gustav and Lina Witt Dahrendorf, Ralf Gustav Dahrendorf was born in Hamburg, Germany, May 1, 1929, became a British citizen in 1988, and was knighted in 1993. A noted social and political thinker and writer, he is regarded as an important contributor to human understanding of the modern world. Dahrendorf, who has received 24 honorary degrees from various universities, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Hamburg in 1952, with postgraduate studies at the London School of Economics, 1952-1954.

Dahrendorf taught at the University of Saarbrücken in the then Federal Republic of Germany before becoming a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, California, 1957-1958. He returned to the University of Hamburg, where he was a professor of sociology, 1958-60, moving to the University of Tubingen for the next six years. From 1966-69, he taught at the University of Konstanz. For the...