born June 22, 1767, Potsdam, Prussia
died April 8, 1835, Tegel, near Berlin
German linguist and educational reformer.
The elder brother of Alexander von Humboldt , he held a number of government posts. As minister of education (1809), he raised elementary education standards and was instrumental in founding Friedrich Wilhelm University (now Humboldt University, or University of Berlin ) in Berlin. Humboldt also contributed greatly to the philosophy of language, contending that its character and structure express the speaker's culture and individuality and that humans perceive the world through the medium of language. He also carried out research on the Basque language and Kawi (old Javanese).