Theodor Adorno (originally Theodor Wiesengrund-Adorno) (September 11, 1903 - August 6, 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, music theorist, and composer and a member of the Frankfurt School along with Max Horkheimer, Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse, etc. He was also the Music Director of the Radio Project. Adorno coined the term "culture industry".

Adorno wrote Dialectic of Enlightenment (with Horkheimer), Minima Moralia, Negative Dialectics, and many other books.


Adorno (front right) and Horkheimer (front left); Habermas in back, right. Heidelberg, 1964.

See also: Critical Theory, New musicology.