Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von

Humboldt, Alexander, Freiherr von (hŭm`bōlt, Ger. älĕksän`dər frī`hĕr fən hm`bôlt), 1769–1859, German naturalist and explorer. His full name is Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt. Educated at Göttingen, he studied at Hamburg, Freiberg, and Jena and made several scientific excursions in Europe. In 1792 he was appointed assessor of mines in Berlin. From 1799 to 1804 he made his renowned expedition with A. J. A. Bonpland to Central and South America and Cuba, a journey that did much to lay the foundations for the sciences of physical geography and meteorology. The major ocean current off S America, which was studied by Humboldt, once carried his name, but is now called the Peru Current. He ascended peaks in the Peruvian Andes to study the relation of temperature and altitude, made observations leading to the discovery of meteor shower periodicity, and investigated the fertilizing properties of guano. In 1808 he settled in Paris and published the findings of his New World expedition in Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland (23 vol., 1805–1834), often cited by the title of Part I, Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent. Humboldt established the use of isotherms in map making; studied the origin and course of tropical storms, the increase in magnetic intensity from the equator toward the poles, and volcanology; and made pioneer investigations on the relationship between geographical environment and plant distribution. In 1827 he settled in his native Berlin at the request of the Prussian king. His interest in terrestrial magnetism led him to effect one of the first instances of international scientific cooperation, by forming a system of meteorological stations throughout Russia and the British colonies. In 1829, Humboldt made an expedition to Russia and Siberia. In his Kosmos (5 vol., 1845–1862; tr. 1849–1858) he sought to combine the vague ideals of the 18th cent. with the exact scientific requirements of the 19th cent. and to formulate a concept of unity amid the complexity of nature.

Bibliography

See biography by C. Kellner (1963); D. Botting, Humboldt and the Cosmos (1973).

---

Humboldt, (Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich) Alexander, Freiherr (baron) von

Alexander von Humboldt, oil painting by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, 1806; in the National Museums in …

(credit: Courtesy of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin)

(born Sept. 14, 1769, Berlin, Prussia—died May 6, 1859, Berlin) German naturalist and explorer. In 1792 he joined the mining department of the Prussian government, where he invented a safety lamp and established a technical school for miners. From 1799 he explored Central and South America, traveling in the Amazon jungles and the Andean highlands. During these journeys he discovered the connection between the Amazon and Orinoco river systems and surmised that altitude sickness was caused by lack of oxygen. He studied the oceanic current off the western coast of South America; it became known as the Humboldt Current (now the Peru Current). He returned to Europe in 1804. His research helped lay the foundation for comparative climatology, drew a connection between a region's geography and its flora and fauna, and added to an understanding of the development of the Earth's crust. In Paris he used his financial resources to help Louis Agassiz and others launch careers. In 1829 he traveled to Russia and Siberia and made geographic, geologic, and meteorologic observations of Central Asia. During the 1830s he investigated magnetic storms. The last 25 years of his life were spent writing Kosmos, an account of the structure of the universe as then known.