wilhelm baron von humboldt

English - English

Definition of wilhelm baron von humboldt in English English dictionary

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)

Related Terms

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr baron von Humboldt

born Sept. 14, 1769, Berlin, Prussia died May 6, 1859, Berlin German naturalist and explorer. In 1792 he joined the mining department of the Prussian government, where he invented a safety lamp and established a technical school for miners. From 1799 he explored Central and South America, traveling in the Amazon jungles and the Andean highlands. During these journeys he discovered the connection between the Amazon and Orinoco river systems and surmised that altitude sickness was caused by lack of oxygen. He studied the oceanic current off the western coast of South America; it became known as the Humboldt Current (now the Peru Current). He returned to Europe in 1804. His research helped lay the foundation for comparative climatology, drew a connection between a region's geography and its flora and fauna, and added to an understanding of the development of the Earth's crust. In Paris he used his financial resources to help Louis Agassiz and others launch careers. In 1829 he traveled to Russia and Siberia and made geographic, geologic, and meteorologic observations of Central Asia. During the 1830s he investigated magnetic storms. The last 25 years of his life were spent writing Kosmos, an account of the structure of the universe as then known

Karl Wilhelm baron von Humboldt

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)

Hyphenation

Wil·helm bar·on von Hum·boldt

Turkish pronunciation

wîlhelm bärın vôn hʌmbōlt

Pronunciation

/ˈwəlˌhelm ˈbarən ˈvôn ˈhəmˌbōlt/ /ˈwɪlˌhɛlm ˈbærən ˈvɔːn ˈhʌmˌboʊlt/