The character arc of Philipp Dettmer
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born in 1986 in Munich. Between then and now sit leaving school at fifteen, a teacher who gave him a reason to learn, civilian service completed in 2007, a degree in history and information design at Munich University of Applied Sciences, a YouTube channel created on 10 July 2013 days after he graduated, a first video about evolution, a commission from a major foundation in 2015, a studio of about seventy people, and a book published in 2021. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Philipp Dettmer?
Out of school at fifteen, and now he teaches millions.
He dropped out of high school at fifteen. What changed it was not a programme or a scheme but one teacher, who gave him a reason to want to understand things. He completed German civilian service in 2007 and went on to study history and then information design at Munich University of Applied Sciences, specialising in infographics and the visualisation of information, which is the craft of making a complicated thing visible on one page.
Days after he graduated, on 10 July 2013, he created a YouTube channel called Kurzgesagt, which is German for "in a nutshell". The first video, published two days later, explained evolution, narrated by a voice that has stayed with the channel ever since. It was a spare-time project. Over ten years it became a design studio employing about seventy people, and in 2015 a major foundation commissioned it to make a film about the end of disease.
The thing being sold is not entertainment. Every video is an argument that a hard idea can be made clear without being made stupid, drawn flatly and brightly and sourced properly. In November 2021 he published Immune, a book about the human immune system, written by the man who had left school at fifteen and been taught to want to know things by one person who bothered.
The moments
Philipp Dettmer's timeline.
The 2000s
He leaves school at fifteen
Setback, and it changed everything. Fifteen, and out, with nothing arranged to follow it.
One teacher
Milestone, and it changed everything. Not a scheme or a programme. One person who bothered.
Civilian service
Milestone. A year given to the state, and then he went back to studying.
The 2010s
History, then infographics
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The craft of making a hard thing visible on one page.
Make the channel
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: explain it himself, taken, or take design work. The channel became a studio of about seventy people and he published a book on the immune system in 2021.
Kurzgesagt is created
Milestone, and it changed everything. Days after graduating, and the first film was about evolution.
A foundation commissions it
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A spare-time channel, commissioned by one of the largest foundations in the world.
The 2020s
A studio of seventy
Milestone, and it changed everything. One man in his spare time became a studio with seventy salaries to pay.
Immune
Milestone, and it changed everything. A book about the immune system, by the man who left school at fifteen.
Munich is where the studio sits and the birds are still drawn flat and bright. What it has set moving is a change in what an explanation is allowed to look like: a generation that learned about cells, stars and probability from short animated films, made by somebody who had walked out of a classroom at fifteen.
What he wrote
Books by Philipp Dettmer
- 2021
Immune
A journey into the system that keeps you alive, written by somebody who left school at fifteen.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His left school at fifteen and now explains hard science to more people than a university could hold. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Philipp Dettmer: frequently asked questions
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Sources
- Kurzgesagt, English Wikipedia entry.
- Publisher author profile for Philipp Dettmer and his own site.
- Publisher records for Immune, 2021.