Humboldt, (Karl) Wilhelm von 1767-1835
German politician and philologist

He was born in Potsdam, the elder brother of Alexander von Humboldt. He travelled in Europe, then became a diplomat, but without official employment. A friend of Schiller, for some time he devoted himself to literature. In 1801 he became Prussian Minister at Rome, and was a patron of young artists and scientists. He returned to Prussia (1808) to become First Minister of Education, and founded the Friedrich Wilhelm (now Humboldt) University of Berlin. In 1810 he went to Vienna as minister plenipotentiary, and to London in 1817. He was the first to study the Basque language scientifically, and also worked on the languages of the East and of the South Sea Islands.