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Who was Wilhelm von Humboldt in relation to Alexander von Humboldt?
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Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt, oil on canvas by Julius Schrader, 1859; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) was the elder brother of the German explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.12
While Alexander is renowned for his scientific explorations, Wilhelm was a distinguished language scholar, philosopher, diplomat, and educational reformer. Wilhelm’s influence was significant in the field of ethnolinguistics, and he was instrumental in founding the institution now known as Humboldt University in Berlin. Following Wilhelm's death, Alexander played a key role in preserving his brother's legacy by editing his unfinished work on the Kawi language and overseeing the publication of his linguistic writings, poems, and essays.1