At its meeting on 28 September 2025, the Order Pour le mérite elected three new members - including the theologian Christoph Markschies, Professor of Ancient Christianity at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Prof. Dr Dr h.c. mult. Christoph Markschies was also President of the HU from 2006 to 2010 and has been President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities since 2020. He has also been President of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities since 2022.
In addition to Christoph Markschies, marine biologist Prof Dr Antje Boetius and singer-songwriter and lyricist Wolf Biermann were newly inducted into the Order. The Order now has a total of 36 domestic and 37 foreign members, including 17 Nobel Prize winners. The first Chancellor of the Order Pour le mérite, founded in 1842, was the university's namesake, the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt.
Further information
Press release by the Minister of State for Culture and the Media