"Two professors hadn't heard of him" is a fascinating epistemological standard. Like me stating: I've also met two cardiologists who didn't know who Rudolf Virchow was. Guess he wasn't that productive either.
As for the last comment: having gone to medical school some decades ago and trained in cardiology, I’m familiar with Virchow. I would be surprised to encounter any physician who hadn’t any familiarity with him. But who knows?!
I also was more of an Foucault guy at university. So I never really got into Luhmann. Albeit I originally studied literature and my uni was quite cultural studies heavy - this is why I read quite a lot from other disciplines back in the days.
I feel Luhmann might be a great poster child for deferred gratification. But that might just be the cynic speaking.
https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/bestand/zettelkasten/inhalt...
Sociology prof: "uhhhh. Well, the good news is that there are a ton of YouTube videos about you."