STEVEN MULLER

WILHELM VON HUMBOLDT

AND THE UNIVERSITY IN THE UNITED STATES

In 1809 and 1810, an extraordinary person named It takes a real effort today to understand just how
Wilhelm von Humboldt was given the authority to radical this concept was then. Just one example may
conceive and create a new university in Berlin. With- make the point. As late as 1877, a professor of biolo-
in a short time, the other universities in Prussia, and gy was dismissed from Amherst College for teaching
then in the rest of Germany, were remodeled along
Staats Bibliothek, Berlin
similar lines.
Wilhelm von Humboldt was as much the founding
spirit of the modern university in the United States as
in Germany. However, if one were to call von Hum-
boldt the father of the modern German university, one
would have to think of him as the grandfather of the
university in America. Americans were not influenced
directly by his writings, which only very few had read.
His ideas moved across the Atlantic through his child,
the German-or, more accurately, the Prussian-
university as reformed by him, which so greatly im-
pressed the young American scholars of that time. It
is astonishing to recollect that over 10,000 of them at-
tended those German universities in the middle of the
19th century to obtain their doctorates. No wonder,
also, that some became leaders in American higher
education, and that they worked to put his principles
into effect in the United States. What Americans dis-
covered in von Humboldt's Pruss ian university was an
institution committed to two dominant concepts: free-
dom of scientific inquiry, and the unity of teaching
and research. These two concepts inspired not the re-
form but the creation of the American university.
This is an old and familiar story. Before the Amer-
ican Civil War, this country had many older colleges,
and a good many called themselves universities. But
they were all founded in the British tradition inherit-
ed by America, and the doctoral degree was rarely,
if ever, offered. It was also true of American higher Wilhelm von Humboldt (drawing by J. J. Schmeller).
education at that time that collegiate institutions were
primarily committed to the transmission of received Ullstein Bilderdienst
knowledge-to the training of those who would enter
what were then called the learned professions-and
that there was no primary commitment to research.
Furthermore, except for most of the new state-
sponsored colleges and universities newly founded af-
ter the Civil War and under the terms of the Morrill
Act, the older and most famous colleges were gener-
ally established by religious denominations and ad-
hered firmly to religious orthodoxy.
Dr. Muller is president of The Johns Hopkins University in Bal-
. timore . The article is based on remarks made at the Reichstag in
West Berlin in May 1985 , commemorating the 150th anniversary
of the death of Wilhelm von Humboldt and on remarks to the gradu-
ates of The Johns Hopkins University at the 1985 Commencement View of University of Berlin (originally Prinz·Heinrich·Palais),
exercises. circa 1810 (etching by Cal au).

Johns Hopkins A PL Technical Digest, Volume 6, N umber 3 253

s. Muller - W. von Humboldt and the University in the United States

What Americans discovered in von Humboldt's Prussian university was an institution com-
mitted to two dominant concepts: freedom of scientific inquiry, and the unity of teaching
and research.

biology as a science and not "as an absolutely depen-

dent product of an absolutely independent and spiritu-
al creator."
In 1876, The Johns Hopkins University opened in
Baltimore under the leadership of Daniel Co it Gilman
(Berlin, 1854) as a new American university explicitly
modeled on Wilhelm von Humboldt's precepts. It was
the first true university, in the modern sense, oj the
United States and in the United States. The Johns
Hopkins faculty consisted mostly of professors who
had studied in German universities, and the new uni-
versity offered the doctorate. Within a few years,
Charles William Eliot (Marburg, 1863) reshaped Har-
vard College into Harvard University, and the univer-
sity model designed by von Humboldt took root
rapidly and firmly throughout the United States.
This brief account is not the full nor-in my
judgment-even the real story. What was it that made
the ideas of freedom of inquiry and the unity of teach-
ing and research so irresistibly attractive to young
American scholars? Behind those famous precepts
stood a fundamental proposition, not nearly as famous Daniel Coit Gilman (circa 1872), prior to his election as Presi-
and-at least in the original-almost entirely unknown dent of The Johns Hopkins University.
to Americans! Von Humboldt's fundamental purpose
was "das Prinzip zu erhalten, die Wissenschajt als et-
was noch nicht ganz Gejundenes und nie ganz Auj-
zufindendes zu betrachten und unabllissig sie als solche
zu such en " [to uphold the principle that views science
not as something already found but as knowledge that
will never be fully discovered and, yet, needs to be
searched for unceasingly]. There, in a few words, is
the thought that created the American university as
we know it today-the thought that transformed the
idea of the university from a training institution
primarily devoted to the transmission of established
knowledge to the revolutionary concept of an institu-
tion primarily committed to the search for, the pur-
suit of, the discovery of, knowledge.
When von Humboldt put forward the idea of free-
dom of teaching and study, he meant above all, free-
dom from religious orthodoxy. And the notion that
scientific knowledge could be discovered rather than
learned as revealed in the past was in fact heretical.
Today, when we think of the major American re-
search universities as great centers of scientific inquiry
and discovery, we realize all too seldom that the tra-
dition of the university as a research institution and
as a center of inquiry is not even two centuries old.
We think of centers of discovery, of institutions whose
scholars hunt for truth at the frontiers of knowledge.
Freedom to search and teaching as part of the quest
are not ends in themselves but means to an end. The View of Physics and Astronomy Building , The Johns Hop-
goal is knowledge, ever new and ever more knowledge; kins University Downtown Campus (erected in 1886).

254 Johns Hopkin s APL Technical Digest , Volume 6, umber 3

 s. Muller - W. von Humboldt and the University in the United States

When we think of the major American research universities as great centers of scientific
inquiry and discovery, we realize all too seldom that the tradition of the university as a
research institution and as a center of inquiry is not even two centuries old.

The American research university seen primarily in its graduate phase, closely tied to ex-
tensive post-doctoral programs, is ideally suited for intensive research activity-in sharp
contrast to the undergraduate colleges, which are not research-intensive.

the scientific university searches and searches, and ing colleges, resulting in the peculiar American pat-
tends to prize the new more than that which is already tern of university education consisting of a collegiate,
known . undergraduate base which can then be followed by a
One can easily understand the appeal of the scien- later phase of advanced, graduate education. Von
tific university of discovery to the rapidly industrializ- Humboldt's reforms inspired in America only this
ing United States of the second half of the 19th century higher stage of advanced graduate development; in ef-
and to the technological superpower of the 20th. But fect, the prior collegiate undergraduate stage replaces
several paradoxes come to mind. One lies in the the preparatory school as the essential education re-
thought that Wilhelm von Humboldt would surely not quired before entering the graduate stage. When one
wish to claim credit for the contemporary American realizes that von Humboldt's university model applies
research university. He would see it as too practical, only to the graduate component of the university in
too vocational, and quite lacking in commitment to the United States, one can also appreciate that it was,
the development of the whole human being as well as and is, easier in the American university to try to be
to the promotion of human civilization in the highest true to von Humboldt's ideal of individualized instruc-
sense. His brother Alexander might perhaps be less tion and the use of the seminar than is the case in the
critical, but the brothers were not always of one mind. German universities which d'o not have separate un-
The contemporary German university appears-at dergraduate and graduate programs.
least to me-to be somewhat less committed to dis- Furthermore, the American research university seen
covery than is its American counterpart. Certainly it primarily in its graduate phase, closely tied to exten-
can be observed that although in the United States sive post-doctoral programs, is ideally suited for in-
most of the research not done directly in industrial or tensive research activity-in sharp contrast to the
government facilities is carried on by the major re- undergraduate colleges, which are not research-
search universities, the Federal Republic of Germany intensive. In this respect, von Humboldt's university
is rich in national research centers and specialized in- model may in fact be under less pressure today in the
stitutes run by research associations such as Max United States than in the Federal Republic of Germa-
Planck and Fraunhofer. These facilities are not part ny. In the Federal Republic, the effort has had to be
of the university system, although, of course, universi- made to adapt the model to a much larger number of
ty-based professors are frequently associated with their universities and students than Wilhelm von Humboldt
work. would ever have conceived. Paradoxically, while the
This observation brings me to the most complex American numbers are even larger on both counts, the
paradox of von Humboldt's impact on the American great mass of American higher education has been,
university. Wilhelm von Humboldt reformed not only and remains, concentrated at the collegiate, under-
the Prussian university but also the Prussian school. graduate level; the relative pressure of numbers at the
He is as much the father of the humanistic gymnasi- true university-the advanced graduate level-is ac-
um as of the new university, and in fact his model of tually less in America than in Germany.
the university depends entirely on the prior schooling In one other respect, the university in the United
which prepares the student for university work. This States may actually come closer to Wilhelm von Hum-
is well-known in Germany but almost unknown in the boldt than the German university does. This relates
United States, where von Humboldt's thoughts about to the university's autonomy from the state. Most
education prior to the university played no discernible Americans are not at all familiar with his ideas and
role even though the explicitly named preparatory writings on the proper limits of government. Even
schools existed in America in von Humboldt's time most Germans who know his work are not aware that
and still exist. von Humboldt tried strenuously to anchor the auton-
How can it be explained? The fact is that the von omy of the university in a strong degree of financial
Humboldt model of the university did not replace the independence from the state by urging the need for
college system already in place in the United States. university endowment whose income each year would
Instead, the university was placed on top of the exist- be available to the university at its own sole discretion.

John s Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 6, N umber 3 255

s. Muller - W. von Humboldt and the University in the United States

What could be more paradoxical than the fact that a heroic effort to reshape Prussian edu-
cation along the lines of a classical Greek tradition, which was more imaginary than real,
should haye led so directly to the creation in America of precisely the right new uniYersity
for the new industrial and technological age?

In the United States, the private character of the I should now end with apologies for all these para-
original colleges and the later growth of private uni- doxes. I comfort myself with the thought that Wilhelm
versities achieved precisely this partial financial inde- von Humboldt was so paradoxical in his own life and
pendence from government which the German uni- thought that my remarks might have amused him .
versity has never had. We represent that vigorous tra- And, after all, what could be more paradoxical than
dition of independence from government on which full the fact that a heroic effort to reshape Prussian edu-
academic freedom so profoundly depends. Even the cation along the lines of a classical Greek tradition,
public universities of America are organized in such which was more imaginary then real, should have led
close imitation of the private institutions that they also so directly to the creation in America of precisely the
share significant sources of income that does not come right new university for the new industrial and tech-
directly from government. nological age?

The Homewood Campus in Baltimo re of The Johns Hopkins Un iversity, 1985.

256 Johns Hopkin s APL Technical Digest, Volume 6, Number 3