Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer (1769–1859)
For other uses, see Alexander von Humboldt (disambiguation).
Alexander von Humboldt
Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler (1843)
Born
14 September 1769
Berlin, Prussia, Holy Roman Empire
Died
6 May 1859(1859-05-06) (aged 89)
Berlin, Prussia, German Confederation
Resting place
Schloss Tegel
Nationality
German
Alma mater
University of Frankfurt (Oder) University of Göttingen Freiberg School of Mines (diploma, 1792)
Known for
Biogeography, Kosmos (1845–1862), Humboldt Current, magnetic storm, Humboldtian science, Berlin Romanticism[1]
Awards
Copley Medal (1852)
Scientific career
Fields
Geography
Academic advisors
Markus Herz, Carl Ludwig Willdenow, Abraham Gottlob Werner
Signature
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science.[2] He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835).[3][4][5] Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography, while his advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement pioneered modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring.[6][7]
Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in the Americas, exploring and describing them for the first time from a non-Spanish European scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in several volumes over 21 years. Humboldt was one of the first people to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined (South America and Africa in particular).
Humboldt resurrected the use of the word cosmos from the ancient Greek and assigned it to his multivolume treatise, Kosmos, in which he sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge and culture. This important work also motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity,[8] which introduced concepts of ecology leading to ideas of environmentalism. In 1800, and again in 1831, he described scientifically, on the basis of observations generated during his travels, local impacts of development causing human-induced climate change.[9][10][11]
Humboldt is seen as "the father of ecology" and "the father of environmentalism".[12][13]
^Helmut Thielicke, Modern Faith and Thought, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1990, p. 174.
^Malcolm Nicolson, "Alexander von Humboldt and the Geography of Vegetation", in: A. Cunningham and N. Jardine (eds.), Romanticism and the Sciences, Cambridge University Press, 1990, pp. 169–188; Michael Dettelbach, "Romanticism and Resistance: Humboldt and "German" Natural Philosophy in Natural Philosophy in Napoleonic France", in: Robert M. Brain, Robert S. Cohen, Ole Knudsen (eds.), Hans Christian Ørsted and the Romantic Legacy in Science: Ideas, Disciplines, Practices, Springer, 2007; Maurizio Esposito, Romantic Biology, 1890–1945, Routledge, 2015, p. 31.
^Thubron, Colin (25 September 2015). "The Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
^Lee, Jeffrey (2014). "Von Humboldt, Alexander". The Encyclopedia of Earth. Archived from the original on 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
^Jackson, Stephen T. "Alexander von Humboldt and the General Physics of the Earth" (PDF). Science. Vol. 324. pp. 596–597. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
^Love, J.J. (2008). "Magnetic monitoring of Earth and space" (PDF). Physics Today. February (2): 31–37. Bibcode:2008PhT....61b..31H. doi:10.1063/1.2883907. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
^Thomson, A. (2009), "Von Humboldt and the establishment of geomagnetic observatories", IAEA-Inis, archived from the original on 4 March 2020, retrieved 8 March 2015
^Walls, L.D. "Introducing Humboldt's Cosmos". Minding Nature. August 2009: 3–15. Archived from the original on 12 May 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
^Cite error: The named reference Paul-2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Wulf, Andrea (23 December 2015). "The Forgotten Father of Environmentalism". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich AlexandervonHumboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent...
founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after him in 1949 (and also after his younger brother, AlexandervonHumboldt, a naturalist)...
The AlexandervonHumboldt Foundation (German: AlexandervonHumboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation that promotes international academic cooperation between...
The Humboldt Research Award (German: Humboldt-Forschungspreis), also known informally as the Humboldt Prize, is an award given by the Alexandervon Humboldt...
Berlin. The university received its current name in honour of Alexander and Wilhelm vonHumboldt in 1949. The university is divided into nine faculties including...
The AlexandervonHumboldt Professorship is an academic prize named after AlexandervonHumboldt and awarded by the AlexandervonHumboldt Foundation since...
of AlexandervonHumboldt may refer to: Statue of AlexandervonHumboldt (Begas) Statue of AlexandervonHumboldt (Bläser) Statue of Alexandervon Humboldt...
Deutsche Schule AlexandervonHumboldt may refer to: Colegio Alemán AlexandervonHumboldt (Mexico City) Colegio Humboldt Puebla Colegio Humboldt (Costa Rica)...
The AlexandervonHumboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) is a research institution in Berlin. Its stated mission is to research “the development...
Prussian scholars Wilhelm and AlexandervonHumboldt. Considered the "German equivalent" of the British Museum, the Humboldt Forum houses the non-European...
vonHumboldt may refer to: AlexandervonHumboldt (1769–1859), Prussian naturalist and explorer Caroline vonHumboldt (1766–1829), German salonnière and...
500–1,000 km (310–620 mi) offshore. The Humboldt Current is named after the German naturalist AlexandervonHumboldt even though it was discovered by José...
Galápagos penguin. The Humboldt penguin and the cold water current it swims in both are named after the explorer AlexandervonHumboldt. The species is listed...
The Invention of Nature: AlexandervonHumboldt's New World is a nonfiction book released in 2015, by the historian Andrea Wulf about the Prussian naturalist...
naturalist AlexandervonHumboldt. "Oregon-California Trails Association". Archived from the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2012. "Humboldt Wildlife...
Schiller, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Johann Gottfried Herder, AlexandervonHumboldt, Wilhelm vonHumboldt, and August and Friedrich Schlegel have come to be collectively...
economy of nature. Soon after came AlexandervonHumboldt and his work with botanical geography. AlexandervonHumboldt and Karl Möbius then contributed...