Weber and his wife, Marianne, moved to Freiburg in 1894, where Weber was appointed professor of economics at the Albert-Ludwigs University,[4][5] before accepting the same position at the University of Heidelberg in 1896.[4][5] There, Weber became a central figure in the so-called "Weber Circle", composed of other intellectuals, including his wife Marianne, as well as Georg Jellinek, Ernst Troeltsch, Werner Sombart and Robert Michels.[6] Weber also remained active in the Verein and the Evangelical Social Congress.[6] His research in that period was focused on economics and legal history.[7]