computer science

Kurzgesagt

Kurzgesagt is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kurzgesagt rather than just read about it. In short: Kurzgesagt (, ; German for "In a nutshell", "in short", or literally "shortly said"; German pronunciation: [ˈkʊʁt͡sɡəˌzaːkt]) is a German animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio is best known for its YouTube channel, which is well known for its animated educational content using minimalistic, flat and in some cases with 3D graphics.

Key takeaways

Kurzgesagt belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kurzgesagt to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kurzgesagt from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kurzgesagt (, ; German for "In a nutshell", "in short", or literally "shortly said"; German pronunciation: [ˈkʊʁt͡sɡəˌzaːkt]) is a German animation and design studio founded by Philipp Dettmer. The studio is best known for its YouTube channel, which is well known for its animated educational content using minimalistic, flat and in some cases with 3D graphics. It discusses scientific, technological, political, philosophical, and psychological subjects. Narrated in English by Steve Taylor, many videos are also available through other language-specific channels, such as in German through the channel Dinge Erklärt – Kurzgesagt, and in Spanish through En Pocas Palabras – Kurzgesagt. Some of their videos are also available in French, Hindi, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese and Korean. As of June 2026, with over 25 million subscribers and more than 350 videos (including shorts), the studio's original English-language channel was the world's 270th most subscribed channel.

History

The Kurzgesagt YouTube channel was created on 10 July 2013 (with their first video coming out on 12 July 2013), shortly after the founder, Philipp Dettmer, graduated from Munich University of Applied Sciences. The first video, which explained evolution, was published two days later with the voice of Steve Taylor, who has remained the channel's commentator. In ten years the channel evolved from a passion project worked on during Dettmer's free time to a design studio with about seventy on the team. In 2015, Kurzgesagt was commissioned to create a video on the end of disease by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. A video about the COVID-19 pandemic, called The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do and released in March 2020, was posted on all three of their channels. It shared how the human body responds to COVID-19 and how effective the measures are in evading SARS-CoV-2. The English version has over 89 million views, making it the most viewed video on the channel. A study published in Visual Resources said that the video "is an example of an aesthetically compelling explanation of the biological processes of a Covid infection," and it "includes fantastical depictions that convey the message in a more comprehensible straightforward manner." Kurzgesagt has received several awards. In 2019, Kurzgesagt became the first German channel to surpass 10 million subscribers on YouTube. In December 2020, fellow YouTuber Marques Brownlee honoured Kurzgesagt, with his "Streamys Creator Honor" award in the 10th Streamy Awards. In February 2026, Kurzgesagt created a second channel called Nightshift - Kurzgesagt After Dark, which focuses on the "weird, beautiful, and sometimes unsettling side of history".

Immune: A Journey Into The Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive In November 2021, Kurzgesagt announced the release of their first book, "Immune: A Journey Into The Mysterious System That Keeps You Alive" written by Philipp Dettmer, the channel's founder. A publication by the Foundation for the Rights of Future Generations, a German think tank, recommended the book among others for books on the COVID-19 pandemic, describing it as "full of stories of invasion, strategy, defeat, and noble self-sacrifice", in introducing the complex world of the immune system. Daniel M. Davis, the Head of Life Sciences and Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, described it as "the feast we have been waiting for" due to the public interest in the mechanisms of the immune system, such as antibodies, T cells, and B cells, during the COVID-19 pandemic, which were "rarely discussed outside of research labs and scientific talks". In the book, the author acknowledges the feedback and help of a Dr. James Gurney, Professor Thomas Brocker, the director of the Munich Institute for Immunology, and Professor Maristela Martins de Camargo of the University of São Paulo.

Sources of funding In 2015, the channel received a US$570,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Since September 2017, Kurzgesagt's German branch had been financially supported by the network Funk of ARD and ZDF. Kurzgesagt's German branch announced their departure from Funk in January 2023. In March 2022, Kurzgesagt received €2.97 million in a grant via Open Philanthropy, which the channel said was being used for translating their videos into various languages, and for funding the creation of content for TikTok. The channel has received a smaller grant from the John Templeton Foundation. In a January 2023 statement, Kurzgesagt stated that 65% of their income from 2020 to 2022 came from viewers via the sale of merchandise from their shop, such as mugs, posters and toys, crowdfunding via Patreon, and Google AdSense revenue, with commercial or institutional sponsorships and grants accounting for only 24% of income. The statement said that the channel treats all data sceptically, that their sources for statements are always given, and that all research work is done in-house, with no editorial influence from sponsors or donors—a condition they say is included in every deal they have signed. Kurzgesagt made this statement in response to a December 2022 video which accused them of having been "basically bought off by billionaires".

Star Birds

In June 2024, the studio announced they had partnered with Toukana Interactive, the creators of Dorfromantik, to create a video game called Star Birds that would be centred around asteroid mining. The game was released on 10 September 2025 in early access with a 10% discount as an introductory offer.

Criticism

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kurzgesagt

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kurzgesagt claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kurzgesagt before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kurzgesagt ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kurzgesagt

In research: Kurzgesagt appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kurzgesagt in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kurzgesagt is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s German animated television series, 2010s YouTube series, 2010s documentary television series, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kurzgesagt outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kurzgesagt in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kurzgesagt means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kurzgesagt out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kurzgesagt in simple terms?

Why does Kurzgesagt matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kurzgesagt?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kurzgesagt.