August Boeckh around 1820; University Library of the Humboldt University, Portrait Collection

Boeckh's complete hand-written estate is being indexed in our Boeckh Estate Project.

Classical philologist August Boeckh's (1785–1867) exceptional relevance for the history of science and science policy is generally accepted but only rarely researched. At the Prussian Academy of Science he supported scientific progress by initiating large-scale projects, e.g. the "Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum”. From 1811 onwards he taught at the Berlin university and helped to shape its very structure as dean of the faculty for arts and humanities, rector of the university, and founder of the immensely successful philologic seminar (1812). Boeckh influenced greatly the development of the university in the first 50 years of its existence.

In this edition, as yet unpublished documents concerning Boeckh's manifold activities in the fields of scienctific organization and science policy at the Berlin university and the Prussian Academy of Science will be made available.

Project manager: Sabine Seifert