Frederick William University

The Humboldt University of Berlin is one of Berlin's oldest universities, founded on 15 October 1811 as the University of Berlin by Frederick William III of Prussia, on the initiative of the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt. The university is known worldwide for pioneering the Humboldtian model of higher education, which has strongly influenced other European and Western universities, and the university has been widely called "the mother of all modern universities." The university has been associated with 40 Nobel Prize winners and is considered one of the best universities in Europe as well as one of the most prestigious universities in the world for arts and humanities. It was widely regarded as the world's preeminent university for the natural sciences during the 19th and early 20th century, and is linked to major breakthroughs in physics and other sciences by its professors such as Albert Einstein.From 1828 until its closure in 1945 it was known as the Frederick William University and also as the Universität unter den Linden after its location in the former palace of Prince Henry of Prussia which his brother, King Frederick II, had built for him between 1748 and 1753 on the avenue Unter den Linden.