The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation () is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between scientists and scholars from Germany and abroad. Established by the

government of the Federal Republic of Germany The Federal Government (, ; abbr. BReg) is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany and exercises executive power at the federal level. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and the Federal Ministers. The fundamentals of ...

, it is funded by the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

, the

Federal Ministry of Education and Research The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (; abbreviated BMFTR) is a cabinet-level ministry of Germany. It is headquartered in Bonn, with an office in Berlin. The Ministry provides funding for research projects and institutions (aim ...

, the

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (, ; abbreviated BMZ) is a cabinet-level ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany. Its main office is at the former German Chancellery in Bonn with a second major office at the Eu ...

, and other national and international partners.

Description

Annually, the Foundation grants over 700 competitive research

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

ships and awards, primarily to academics in the

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. These enable scientists and scholars from around the world to conduct research in Germany, collaborating with a host and partner of their choosing. In addition, the Foundation funds German scholars through the Feodor Lynen Fellowships, allowing them to pursue research projects worldwide with a host and partner who must have previously held an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. The fellowships and awards include significant prizes, such as the

Alexander von Humboldt Professorship The Alexander von Humboldt Professorship is an academic prize named after Alexander von Humboldt and awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation since 2008. The prize is intended to attract internationally leading scientists from abroad to Ger ...

and

Sofia Kovalevskaya Award The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany bestowed the Sofia Kovalevskaya Award from 2002 to 2020. Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891) was the first major Russian female mathematician, who made important contributions to mathematical analysis ...

s. Fellowships and awards from the Foundation are considered among the most prestigious and generous in Germany. Its alumni network, comprising over 26,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries, including 57 Nobel laureates, is the foundation's greatest asset.

History

The Foundation was initially established in Berlin in 1860 to support German scientists conducting research abroad. It was named after the polymath

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

. In 1923, during the

hyperinflation In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real versus nominal value (economics), real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimiz ...

, the Foundation ceased operations due to capital constraints. It was re-established in 1925 with a new goal: to attract talented, pro-German students from other countries to study and research in Germany. Following the fall of Germany in 1945, the Foundation closed for a second time. It was re-established in Bonn-Bad Godesberg on December 10, 1953, under the leadership of physicist

Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg (; ; 5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist, one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics and a principal scientist in the German nuclear program during World War II. He pub ...

, with a new mission: “to grant fellowships to academics of foreign nationality, without regard to gender, race, religion, or ideology, to enable them to continue their academic training by a study-visit to Germany“. In 2016, the Foundation helped establish the German Section of the

Scholars at Risk Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of academic institutions organized to support and defend the principles of academic freedom and to defend the human rights of scholars around the world. As of 2024, network membership is reported ...

(SAR) network, a group of research institutions, universities, and science organizations committed to supporting at-risk academics and promoting academic freedom.

Prizes and scholarships

, the most valuable research award in Germany (3.5/5 million Euros) *Humboldt grants for researchers to work in Germany *Feodor Lynen grants for researchers from Germany to work abroad * Humboldt Prize (Humboldt Research Award) *

Max Planck-Humboldt Research Award Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) (1 ...

, awarded jointly with the Max-Planck Society to a researcher from outside Germany *

Anneliese Maier Anneliese Maier (; November 17, 1905 in Tübingen, Germany – December, 1971 in Rome, Italy) was a German historian of science particularly known for her work researching natural philosophy in the middle ages. Biography Anneliese Maier was th ...

research prize for humanities and social sciences from outside Germany * Georg Forster research prize for researchers from developing countries * Gay-Lussac–Humboldt research prize to French scientists, awarded with the French Ministry for Education * Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel research prize (since 2001)

References

External links

*
Sofia Kovalevskaya Award
{{Authority control Scientific research foundations Scientific societies based in Germany Organisations based in Bonn Alexander von Humboldt Foundations based in Germany