hu wissen 1 (pdf) - Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Wilhelm Julius Förster
Heinrich Barth
Did you know that about half of the food produced
in the world today owes its existence to the use
of calcium cyanamide fertilizer? Its inventor,
Adolph Frank, was a chemist at Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.
Berlin’s oldest university was
– and still is – the intellectual home of passionate
and daring researchers with a penchant for innovation
who put their ideas into practice against
vehement resistance if necessary.
If you want to learn more about which Humboldtians
discovered, invented or developed the
ophthalmoscope, tetanus antitoxin, online learning
platforms or toilet paper, your should browse
through a recently published book called
»Humboldts Innovationen«, which portraits 17
thinkers – social, cultural and business entrepreneurs
– up to the present day. The book was written
and published by students of the Institute of
History – with the guidance of historian Alexander
Schug and in cooperation with the Humboldt-Innovation
GmbH.
The students’ entertaining portraits have not
removed the subjects’ rough edges, either. Africa
explorer Heinrich Barth (1821-1865), while tirelessly
championing black equality, was a true bore
as a lecturer; the students fled from his lectures in
droves. Among those described are Louis Lewin
(1850-1929), toxicologist, pharmacologist and pioneer
of morphine research, and Alfred Wegener
(1880-1930), who discovered continental dri on
his expedition to the Arctic and thus laid an essential
foundation for the present-day model of plate
tectonics. Putting ideas into action oen required
courage, persuasiveness and tenacity. For example,
Alexander Mitscherlich (1836-1918), chemist
and inventor of the sulphite pulp process, was embroiled
in a patent dispute for years.
Yet the inventions all have one thing in common:
they are still having an effect on society to
this day. For example, Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902)
made a name for himself not only as a collector of
pathological and anatomical specimens, thus improving
people’s knowledge of health and disease;
Berlin is also indebted to him for the development
of the sewerage system and medical care
for the needy. Work still continues today on collecting
and editing ancient Latin inscriptions, a
project initiated by the historian Theodor Mommsen
(1817-1903) to study Roman life. The project is
called »Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum« (CIL)
and will continue until 2053.
Humboldts Innovationen
Daniel Klink, Martin Mahn, Alexander Schug
(Hg.): Humboldts Innovationen. Soziales, wissenschaliches
und wirtschaliches Unternehmertum
an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Vergangenheitsverlag,
Berlin 2010, 13,90 Euro
(ISBN: 978-3-940621-16-0)
IN KÜRZE / IN SHORT
53