Sir

In contrast to the assertion made in your Editorial “Berlin's university crisis” (Nature 423, 101; 2003), the famous principle of the “unity of teaching and research” that forms the conceptual basis of modern academic education was not developed by the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859); neither was he the “founder of the modern German higher-education system”.

These achievements were those of his brother, the politician and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835), who in 1810 founded the university of Berlin that carries his name today.