Humboldt University of Berlin

The Humboldt University of Berlin (German: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany

Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Seal of the Universitas Humboldtiana Berolinensis (Latin)
Motto
Universitas litterarum (Latin)
Motto in English
The Entity of Sciences
TypePublic
Established15 October 1810; 212 years ago (1810-10-15)[1]
Budget€483.3 million (2020)[2]
PresidentJulia von Blumenthal
Academic staff
2,403[3]
Administrative staff
1,516[3]
Students32,553[3]
Undergraduates18,712[4]
Postgraduates10,881[4]
2,951[4]
Location,
Germany

52°31′05″N 13°23′36″E
CampusUrban and Suburban
Nobel Laureates57 (as of 2020)[5]
ColorsBlue and White   [6]
AffiliationsGerman Universities Excellence Initiative
UNICA
U15
Atomium Culture
EUA
IAU
FGU
Erasmus
Websitehu-berlin.de

The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humboldt, Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher as the University of Berlin (Universität zu Berlin) in 1809, and opened in 1810,[7] making it the oldest of Berlin's four universities. From 1828 until its closure in 1945, it was named Friedrich Wilhelm University (German: Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität).[8][9] During the Cold War, the university found itself in East Berlin and was de facto split in two when the Free University of Berlin opened in West Berlin. The university received its current name in honour of Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1949.[10]

The university is divided into nine faculties including its medical school shared with the Freie Universität Berlin. The university has a student enrollment of around 32,000 students, and offers degree programs in some 189 disciplines from undergraduate to post-doctorate level.[11] Its main campus is located on the Unter den Linden boulevard in central Berlin. The university is known worldwide for pioneering the Humboldtian model of higher education, which has strongly influenced other European and Western universities.[12]

It was regarded as the world's preeminent university for the natural sciences during the 19th and early 20th century, as the university is linked to major breakthroughs in physics and other sciences by its professors, such as Albert Einstein.[13] Past and present faculty and notable alumni include 57 Nobel Prize laureates[5] (the most of any German university by a substantial margin), as well as eminent philosophers, sociologists, artists, lawyers, politicians, mathematicians, scientists, and heads of state; among them are: Albert Einstein, Hermann von Helmholtz, Emil du Bois-Reymond, Robert Koch, Theodor Mommsen, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Otto von Bismarck, W. E. B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, Arthur Schopenhauer, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Walter Benjamin, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, Karl Liebknecht, Ernst Cassirer, Heinrich Heine, Eduard Fraenkel, Max Planck, Wernher von Braun and the Brothers Grimm.

As one of Germany's most prestigious institutions of higher education, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin has been conferred the title of "University of Excellence" under the German Universities Excellence Initiative.


Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Humboldt University of Berlin, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.