Rudolf Steiner was born on February 27, 1861, in Kraljevec (Kingdom of Hungary, now Croatia). He studied at the Technical University of Vienna and earned his doctorate at the University of Rostock with a thesis on epistemology, which concludes with the statement: "The most important problem of all human thought is to understand man as a free personality founded upon himself." This conviction guided him in his work as an editor of Goethe in Weimar, as a writer, editor, and lecturer in Berlin, and later in Dornach and many other places in Europe. His perspective, expanded through consciousness research and termed "Anthroposophy" (wisdom of humanity), enabled him to provide practical and profound impulses in numerous areas of life, always with the aim of a spiritual renewal of civilization. After separating from the Theosophical Society, of which he initially served as General Secretary of the German Section, he played a role in founding the Anthroposophical Society. The society found its center at the Goetheanum in Dornach near Basel, which was established as the "Free School for Spiritual Science." When the double-domed wooden structure was destroyed by arson, Rudolf Steiner took the lead of the newly founded General Anthroposophical Society. Rudolf Steiner passed away on March 30, 1925. His work includes numerous written books and transcripts of around 6,000 lectures, much of which has been published in the "Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner.".