Humboldt University of Berlin (German: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. The university received its current name in honour of Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt in 1949. It was regarded as the world's preeminent university for the natural sciences during the 19th and early 20th century, as the university is linked to major breakthroughs in physics and other sciences by its professors, such as Albert Einstein and Max Planck. Past and present faculty and notable alumni include 57 Nobel Prize laureates(the most of any German university by a substantial margin), as well as eminent philosophers, sociologists, artists, lawyers, politicians, mathematicians, scientists, and heads of state.
The university is divided into nine faculties, including its medical school shared with the Free University of Berlin, has a student enrollment of around 32,000 students, and offers degree programmes in some 189 disciplines from undergraduate to post doctorate level. The university is known worldwide for pioneering the Humboldtian model of higher education, which has strongly influenced other European and Western universities. HU students can study abroad for a semester or a year at partner institutions such as the University of Warwick, Princeton University, and the University of Vienna.
The university is divided into three campuses: Campus Mitte, Campus Nord, and Campus Adlershof. Its main building, Campus Mitte, is located in the heart of Berlin on the boulevard Unter den Linden. Campus Nord, located north of the main building near Berlin Hauptbahnhof, houses the life science departments as well as the university medical center Charité. The natural sciences, together with computer science and mathematics, are located at Campus Adlershof in the south-east of Berlin.