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The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (German: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development as well as other national and international partners; it promotes international academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from Germany and from abroad.
The Foundation was initially established in Berlin in 1860 in order to provide support to German scientists to do research in other countries. During the 1923 high inflation the Foundation has lost most of its capital and had to close. It was re-established by the German Reich in 1925, with the new goal to support foreign students and academics to come and stay in Germany. The Foundation ceased functioning in 1945. The today's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation was re-established on December 10, 1953, with the headquarters located in Bonn-Bad Godesberg
Every year, the Foundation grants more than 700 competitive research fellowships and awards, primarily going to academics from natural sciences (mathematics included) and the humanities. It allows scientists and scholars from all over the world to come to Germany to work on a research project they have chosen themselves together with a host and collaborative partner. Additionally it funds German scholars' via the Feodor Lynen Fellowships to go anywhere in the world to work on a research project with a host and collaborative partner, who must have held an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship him or herself