Humboldt Basics

In 1810, the University of Berlin was founded. The foundation Wilhelm von Humboldt envisioned made it the mother of all modern universities.1

Humboldtian Model

What made Wilhelm von Humboldt’s vision unique, was the world’s first introduction to the unity of research and teaching.2 This allowed for a comprehensive humanist education and is now referred to as the Humboldtian model of higher education.3 Due to the influence of Wilhelm’s renowned brother, Alexander von Humboldt (Charles Darwin’s role model), the university also pioneered the introduction of many new disciplines altogether.4 5

These concepts soon spread throughout the world and became general practice. A new generation of universities had begun.6 7

Alexander von Humboldt (Heike Zappe, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Nobel Alumni

Following the foundation of the German Empire in 1871, the university became the largest and most renowned university in Germany.8 By some it has also been regarded as the world’s leading university in the natural sciences during the 19th and early 20th century.9

The University of Berlin is associated with major scientific breakthroughs by its alumni and faculty. In total, 57 Nobel Prize laureates either studied or taught at the university. Among them Albert Einstein, Max Planck, Erwin Schrödinger, Robert Koch, Rudolf Virchow, Arthur Schopenhauer, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, Werner Heisenberg, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Otto von Bismarck, Fritz Haber, and most recently Emmanuelle Charpentier in 2020.10 11 12

Royal Home

Friedrich Wilhelm III, king of Prussia, donated the Palace of Prince Heinrich of Prussia to be the first university building on the magnificent Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin. Later in 1831, as the Royal Library was no longer sufficient for academic needs, a university library was established. Amid this expansion, the university was named Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität to honour the king.13

Palace of Prince Heinrich of Prussia (Heike Zappe, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Today

In 1949, the university’s name was changed yet again, and it would from then on be called Humboldt University of Berlin, in honour of the two brothers, Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt.14

Since 2012, it has been one of the federal government’s eleven “universities of excellence”, in part the German equivalent to the American Ivy League.15 Globally, it is often ranked among the best 5% or even overall top 10 in disciplines such as arts and humanities, social science, life science, and natural science.16 17 18

References

  1. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/history/huben_html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  2. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/universitaet [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  3. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Humboldtian-model-of-higher-education/a951f9324775599be1f41c771573ac28afd1b7cc [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  4. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/history/huben_html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20230622090907/https://ecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/53213-what-matters-most-is-an-unbiased-view-on-nature-not-the-general-doctrinal-opinion [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  6. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/humboldt-universitaet-zu-berlin/universitaet [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20140331085033/http://www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-98.html#S4 [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  8. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/history [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  9. https://academicinfluence.com/schools/humboldt-university-berlin ↩︎
  10. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/history/huben_html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  11. https://reason-why.berlin/article/the-humboldt-university-in-berlin/ [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_University_of_Berlin#Notable_alumni_and_faculty [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  13. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/history/huben_html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  14. https://www.hu-berlin.de/en/about/history/huben_html [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  15. https://reason-why.berlin/article/the-humboldt-university-in-berlin/ [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  16. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/by-subject [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  17. https://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2023 [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎
  18. https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/university-subject-rankings/2020/classics-ancient-history [Accessed 28 Dec. 2023] ↩︎