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 in epistemology, which concludes with the statement: "The most important problem of all human thought is this: to understand man as a self-founded, free personality." 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 expanded perspective through consciousness research, which he called "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 for 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 became the "Free School for Spiritual Science." When the double-domed wooden structure was destroyed by arson, Rudolf Steiner took the lead of the newly established 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.".