Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist and diplomat, born at Potsdam. After serving as a Prussian diplomat in Rome, he was placed in charge of church and school affairs in 1809.

He overhauled Prussian education from primary schools through gymnasia to teacher training, seeing education as a means of realizing individual potential rather than preparing pupils for fixed social roles. In 1810 he founded the University of Berlin on the principle that teaching and research are inseparable, a model copied across Europe and beyond.

He later represented Prussia in London, while his philosophy of language helped found ethnolinguistics. He died at Tegel in 1835.