60 years of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation promotes collaboration between outstanding researchers from Germany and other countries.
Alexander von Humboldt was brought back to life in one of the most successful German books of recent years: in “Measuring the World”, the author Daniel Kehlmann portrays the lives of Humboldt and another universal genius, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. While on a scholarship in Mexico, Kehlmann had discovered that memories of the natural scientist and explorer are still very much alive there. “Then I suddenly felt that Humboldt is my key, for he entered this world, but entered it as a German”, Kehlmann said in an interview with German daily “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”. “That is a story I can tell.”
Humboldt as the key to other worlds – for 60 years, the foundation which bears the scholar’s name has been enabling academics to have a similar experience. Humboldt tirelessly pursued his research in Latin America, the USA, Russia, Central Asia and Europe – the activities of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which was established in 1953 by the Federal Republic of Germany, are equally global. The foundation promotes collaboration between outstanding German researchers and researchers from other countries, providing scholarships and awards to support young postdocs and experienced academics alike. One of its best-known sponsorship programmes is the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship: it is awarded to leading international scholars, enabling them to spend five years conducting research at a university or research institution in Germany. In recent years, an environmental economist from Switzerland, a quantum physicist from Austria and three physicists and a mathematician from the USA have been selected for the award.
The work of the Humboldt Foundation is based on the idea of exchange: every new researcher in the group needs an academic host. Worldwide, there are already 26,000 “Humboldtians” who are potential cooperation partners. In this respect too, the foundation’s namesake is the inspiration: Alexander von Humboldt not only devoted himself to his own projects, but also supported other scholars and artists, such as the chemist Justus von Liebig and the composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.
