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Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt (by Joseph Stieler, 1843)
Born	14 September 1769 Berlin
Died	6 May 1859(1859-05-06) (aged 89) Berlin
Nationality	Prussian
Fields	Geography
Known for	Biogeography, Kosmos (1845), Humboldt current
Influences	Schelling
Influenced	Darwin
Notable awards	Copley Medal (1852)
Signature

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt ( listen (help·info); 14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a Prussian geographer, naturalist, explorer, and influential proponent of romantic philosophy. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835).^[1][2][3] Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical geography laid the foundation for the field of biogeography. Humboldt's advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring.^[4][5]

Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it for the first time from a modern scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in an enormous set of 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 multi-volume 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.^[6]

Biography[edit]

The Tegel Palace (or Humboldt Palace), where Alexander von Humboldt and Wilhelm von Humboldt lived for several years.

Early life and education[edit]

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Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin in Prussia in 1769.^[7]

His father, Alexander Georg von Humboldt, belonged to a prominent Pomeranian family; a major in the Prussian Army, he was rewarded for his services in the Seven Years' War with the post of Royal Chamberlain. He married, firstly, the daughter of Prussian General Adjutant Schweder.^[7] In 1766, apparently a widower, Alexander Georg married Maria Elizabeth Colomb, widow of Baron Hollwede; the couple had two sons, Wilhelm and Alexander. The money Baron Holwede left to Alexander's mother became instrumental in funding Alexander's explorations, contributing more than 70% of his private income.

Due to his youthful penchant for collecting and labelling plants, shells and insects, Alexander received the playful title of "the little apothecary". Alexander's father died in 1779, after which his mother saw to his education. Marked for a political career, Alexander studied finance for six months at the University of Frankfurt (Oder); a year later, on 25 April 1789,^{[citation needed]} he matriculated at Göttingen, then known for the lectures of C.G. Heyne and J.F. Blumenbach. His vast and varied interests were by this time fully developed, and during a vacation in 1789 Alexander made a scientific excursion up the Rhine and produced the treatise Mineralogische Beobachtungen über einige Basalte am Rhein (Brunswick, 1790) (Mineralogic Observations on Several Basalts on the River Rhine).

Portrait of Alexander von Humboldt by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, 1806

Von Humboldt's passion for travel was confirmed by a friendship formed at Göttingen with Georg Forster, Heyne's son-in-law and the companion of Captain James Cook on Cook's second voyage. Thereafter, Humboldt's talents were devoted to the purpose of preparing himself as a scientific explorer. With this emphasis, he studied commerce and foreign languages at Hamburg, geology at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg under A.G. Werner, anatomy at Jena under J.C. Loder and astronomy and the use of scientific instruments under F.X. von Zach and J.G. Köhler. Humboldt's researches into the vegetation of the mines of Freiberg led to the publication, in 1793, of his Florae Fribergensis Specimen. Long experimentation on muscular irritability, then recently discovered by Luigi Galvani, was described in his Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser (Berlin, 1797) (Experiments on the Frayed Muscle and Nerve Fibres), enriched in the French translation with notes by Blumenbach.

Travels and work in Europe[edit]

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In 1794 Humboldt was admitted to the famous Weimar coterie and contributed (7 June 1795) to Schiller's new periodical, Die Horen, a philosophical allegory entitled Die Lebenskraft, oder der rhodische Genius. In the summer of 1790 he paid a short visit to England in the company of Forster. In 1792 and 1797 he was in Vienna; in 1795 he made a geological and botanical tour through Switzerland and Italy. Humboldt had obtained, in the meantime, official employment by appointment as assessor of mines at Berlin, 29 February 1792. Although this service to the state was regarded by him as only an apprenticeship to the service of science, he fulfilled its duties with such conspicuous ability that not only did he rise rapidly to the highest post in his department, but he was also entrusted with several important diplomatic missions. The death of his mother, on 19 November 1796, set him free. After severing his official connections, he awaited an opportunity to fulfill his long-cherished dream of travel.

Latin American expedition[edit]

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Alexander von Humboldt's Latin American expedition

Geography of Plants, 1805.

On the postponement of Captain Baudin's proposed voyage of circumnavigation, which he had been officially invited to accompany, Humboldt left Paris for Marseille with Aimé Bonpland, the designated botanist for the expedition, hoping to join Napoleon Bonaparte in Egypt. Means of transport, however, were not forthcoming, and the two travelers eventually found their way to Madrid, where the unexpected patronage of the minister Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo convinced them to make Spanish America the scene of their explorations.

Armed with powerful recommendations from the King of Spain, they sailed in the Pizarro from A Coruña, on 5 June 1799, stopped six days on the island of Tenerife to climb the volcano Teide, and landed at Cumaná, Venezuela, on 16 July. Humboldt visited the mission at Caripe and explored the Guácharo cavern, where he found the oil-bird, which he was to make known to science as Steatornis caripensis. Returning to Cumaná, Humboldt observed, on the night of 11–12 November, a remarkable meteor shower (the Leonids). He proceeded with Bonpland to Caracas where he would climb the Avila mount with Andrés Bello.

In February 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland left the coast with the purpose of exploring the course of the Orinoco River and its tributaries. This trip, which lasted four months and covered 1,725 miles (2,776 km) of wild and largely uninhabited country, had the important result of establishing the existence of the Casiquiare canal (a communication between the water-systems of the rivers Orinoco and Amazon), and of determining the exact position of the bifurcation, as well as documenting the life of several native tribes such as the Maipures and their extinct rivals the Atures (several words of the latter tribe were transferred to Humboldt by one parrot^[8]). Around 19 March 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland discovered and captured some electric eels. They both received potentially dangerous electric shocks during their investigations. Two months later they explored the territory of the Maypures and that of the then recently extinct Aturès Indians. Humboldt laid to rest the persistent myth of Raleigh's Lake Parime by proposing that the seasonal flooding of the Rupununi savannah had been misidentified as a lake.^[9]

On 24 November, the two friends set sail for Cuba where they met fellow botanist and plant collector John Fraser,^[10] and after a stay of some months they regained the mainland at Cartagena, Colombia. Ascending the swollen stream of the Magdalena River and crossing the frozen ridges of the Cordillera Real, they reached Quito on 6 January 1802, after a tedious and difficult journey. Their stay there was marked by the ascent of Pichincha and an attempt on Chimborazo. Humboldt and his party reached an altitude of 19,286 feet (5,878 m), a world record at the time. The journey concluded with an expedition to the sources of the Amazon en route for Lima, Peru.^[11] At Callao, Humboldt observed the transit of Mercury on 9 November and studied the fertilizing properties of guano, the subsequent introduction of which into Europe was due mainly to his writings. A tempestuous sea-voyage brought them to Mexico, where they resided for a year, travelling to different cities.

Next, Humboldt made a short visit to the United States, staying in the White House as a guest of President Thomas Jefferson, a scientist himself, who was delighted to have Humboldt as a guest and the two held numerous intense discussions on scientific matters. After six weeks, Humboldt set sail for Europe from the mouth of the Delaware and landed at Bordeaux on 3 August 1804.

Achievements of the Latin American expedition[edit]

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An 1815 self-portrait of Humboldt (aged 45)

This memorable expedition may be regarded as having laid the foundation of the sciences of physical geography and meteorology. By his delineation (in 1817) of "isothermal lines", he at once suggested the idea and devised the means of comparing the climatic conditions of various countries. He first investigated the rate of decrease in mean temperature with the increase in elevation above sea level, and afforded, by his inquiries regarding the origin of tropical storms, the earliest clue to the detection of the more complicated law governing atmospheric disturbances in higher latitudes; while his essay on the geography of plants was based on the then novel idea of studying the distribution of organic life as affected by varying physical conditions. His discovery of the decrease in intensity of Earth's magnetic field from the poles to the equator was communicated to the Paris Institute in a memoir read by him on 7 December 1804, and its importance was attested by the speedy emergence of rival claims. His services to geology were based mainly on his attentive study of the volcanoes of the New World. He showed that they fell naturally into linear groups, presumably corresponding with vast subterranean fissures; and by his demonstration of the igneous origin of rocks previously held to be of aqueous formation, he contributed largely to the elimination of erroneous views, such as Neptunism.

Humboldt is considered to be the "second discoverer of Cuba" due to all the scientific and social research he conducted on this Spanish colony. During an initial three-month stay at Havana, his first tasks were to properly survey that city and the nearby towns of Guanabacoa, Regla and Bejucal. He befriended Cuban landowner and thinker Francisco Arango y Parreño; together they visited the Guines area in south Havana, the valleys of Matanzas Province and the Valley of the Sugar Mills in Trinidad. Those three areas were, at the time, the first frontier of sugar production in the island. During those trips, Humboldt collected statistical information on Cuba's population, production, technology and trade, and with Arango, made suggestions for enhancing them. He predicted that the agricultural and commercial potential of Cuba was huge and could be vastly improved with proper leadership in the future.

After traveling to the United States, Humboldt returned to Cuba for a second, shorter stay in April 1804. During this time he socialized with his scientific and landowner friends, conducted mineralogical surveys and finished his vast collection of the island's flora and fauna. Finally, Humboldt conducted a rudimentary census of the indigenous and European inhabitants in New Spain. On 5 May 1804, he estimated the population to be six million individuals.^[12][13]

The editing and publication of the encyclopedic mass of scientific, political and archaeological material that had been collected by him during his absence from Europe was now Humboldt's most urgent desire. After a short trip to Italy with Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac for the purpose of investigating the law of magnetic declination and a sojourn of two and a half years in his native city, he finally, in the spring of 1808, settled in Paris with the purpose of securing the scientific cooperation required for bringing his great work through the press. This colossal task, which he at first hoped would occupy but two years, eventually cost him twenty-one, and even then it remained incomplete. In these early years in Paris, he shared accommodation and a laboratory with his friend and former rival, Gay-Lussac. Both men were working on the analysis of gases and the composition of the atmosphere. A statue of Alexander von Humboldt was raised commemorating the 200th anniversary of his travels in Mexico, located in the Alameda Central (central park) of Mexico City. The inscription reads "From the Mexican Nation to Alejandro de Humboldt - Hero of the Nation (benemérito de la patria) 1799–1999".

• House where Humboldt lived in Mexico City in 1803, located at 80 Rep. de Uruguay in the historic centre, just south of the Zocalo

• Isothermal chart of the world made by William Channing Woodbridge using Humboldt's data

• Statue in Mexico City Alameda Central

Humboldtian science[edit]

von Humboldt depicted by Charles Willson Peale, 1805

Von Humboldt saw the need for an approach to science that could account for the harmony of nature among the diversity of the physical world. For Humboldt, "the unity of nature" meant that it was the interrelation of all physical sciences—such as the conjoining between biology, meteorology and geology—that determined where specific plants grew. He found these relationships by unravelling myriad, painstakingly collected data,^[14] data extensive enough that it became an enduring foundation upon which others could base their work. Humboldt viewed nature holistically, and tried to explain natural phenomena without the appeal to religious dogma. He believed in the central importance of observation, and as a consequence had amassed a vast array of the most sophisticated scientific instruments then available. Each had its own velvet lined box and was the most accurate and portable of its time; nothing quantifiable escaped measurement. According to Humboldt, everything should be measured with the finest and most modern instruments and sophisticated techniques available, for that collected data was the basis of all scientific understanding. This quantitative methodology would become known as "Humboldtian science". Humboldt wrote "Nature herself is sublimely eloquent. The stars as they sparkle in firmament fill us with delight and ecstasy, and yet they all move in orbit marked out with mathematical precision."^[15]

Criticism[edit]

Some scholars say his writings contain fantastical descriptions of America, while leaving out its inhabitants. They claim Humboldt, coming from the Romantic school of thought, believed '... nature is perfect till man deforms it with care.'^[16] In this line of thinking, they argue he largely neglected the human societies amidst this nature. The writing style that describes the 'new world' without people is a trend among explorers both of the past and present. Views of indigenous peoples as 'savage' or 'unimportant' leaves them out of the historical picture.^[16] Other scholars point to the fact that Humboldt dedicated large parts of his work to describing the conditions of slaves, indigenous peoples and society in general. He often showed his disgust for the slavery^[17] and inhumane conditions in which indigenous peoples and others were treated and he often criticized the colonial policies.^[1]

Acclaim[edit]

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Humboldt was now one of the most famous men in Europe.^[18] The acclaimed American painter Rembrandt Peale painted him during his European stay, between 1808 and 1810, as one of the most prominent figures in Europe at the time. A chorus of applause greeted him from every side. Academies, both native and foreign, were eager to enrol him among their members. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1810. King Frederick William III of Prussia conferred upon him the honour, without exacting the duties, attached to the post of royal chamberlain, together with a pension of 2,500 thalers, afterwards doubled. He refused the appointment of Prussian minister of public instruction in 1810.

In 1814 he accompanied the allied sovereigns to London. Three years later he was summoned by the king of Prussia to attend him at the congress of Aachen. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1816.^[19] Humboldt was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1822.^[20] Again in the autumn of 1822 he accompanied the same monarch to the Congress of Verona, proceeded thence with the royal party to Rome and Naples and returned to Paris in the spring of 1823. Humboldt had long regarded Paris as his true home. There he found not only scientific sympathy, but the social stimulus which his vigorous and healthy mind eagerly craved. He was equally in his element as the lion of the salons and as the savant of the Institut de France and the observatory. During that time he met in 1818, the young and brilliant Peruvian student of the Royal Mining School of Paris, Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz. They became good friends. Subsequently Humboldt acted as a mentor of the career of this promising Peruvian scientist. Thus, when at last he received from his sovereign a summons to join his court at Berlin, he obeyed reluctantly.

On 12 May 1827, he settled permanently in Berlin, where his first efforts were directed towards the furtherance of the science of terrestrial magnetism. For many years, it had been one of his favourite schemes to secure, by means of simultaneous observations at distant points, a thorough investigation of the nature and law of "magnetic storms" (a term invented by him to designate abnormal disturbances of Earth's magnetism). The meeting at Berlin, on 18 September 1828, of a newly formed scientific association, of which he was elected president, gave him the opportunity of setting on foot an extensive system of research in combination with his diligent personal observations. His appeal to the Russian government, in 1829, led to the establishment of a line of magnetic and meteorological stations across northern Asia. Meanwhile his letter to the Duke of Sussex, then (April 1836) president of the Royal Society, secured for the undertaking, the wide basis of the British dominions.

The Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, observes, "Thus that scientific conspiracy of nations which is one of the noblest fruits of modern civilization was by his exertions first successfully organized". However, earlier examples of international scientific cooperation exist, notably the 18th-century observations of the transits of Venus.

The President of Mexico, Benito Juárez, awarded von Humboldt honorary Mexican citizenship.^{[citation needed]}

Explorations in Russia[edit]

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In 1811, and again in 1818, projects of Asiatic exploration were proposed to Humboldt, first by the Russian government, and afterwards by the Prussian government; but on each occasion, untoward circumstances interposed, and it was not until he had begun his sixtieth year that he resumed his early role of traveler in the interests of science. Between May and November 1829, he, together with his chosen associates, Gustav Rose and C. G. Ehrenberg, traversed the wide expanse of the Russian empire from the Neva to the Yenesei, accomplishing in twenty-five weeks a distance of 9,614 miles (15,472 km). The journey, however, though carried out with all the advantages afforded by the immediate patronage of the Russian government, was too rapid to be profitable. The correction of the prevalent exaggerated estimate of the height of the Central Asian plateau, and the prediction of the discovery of diamonds in the gold-washings of the Urals, were important aspects of these travels.

Humboldt as diplomat[edit]

مرجع 163827 وضعیت جدید نظرات (0) تاکنون هیچ نقدی از طرف کاربران نوشته نشده. تشکر نظر شما نمی تواند ارسال شود تاييد گزارش کردن نظر آیا مطمئن هستید که می‌خواهید این نظر را گزارش کنید? خیر بله گزارش ارسال شد گزارش شما ارسال شد و توسط یک مدیر بررسی خواهد شد. تاييد گزارش شما نمی تواند ارسال شود تاييد بررسی خود را بنویسید × جدید ناموجود 1 عدد تمبر دویستمین سالگرد الکساندر فون هامبولدت - جغرافیدان و کاشف آمریکای جنوبی - مکزیک 1999 Mexico 1999 - The 200th Anniversary of Alexander von Humboldt's Exploration of South America 1v Quality: عنوان* نام شما* نقد* * فیلدهای مورد نیاز انصراف ارسال نظر ارسال شد نظر شما اضافه شد و پس از تائید مدیر فعال خواهد شد. تاييد نظر شما نمی تواند ارسال شود تاييد 16 محصولات مشابه در شاخه های مختلف:  نمایش سریع 9 عدد تمبر چهره های سرشناس... ‎ریال33,999 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع سونیرشیت کنفرانس پارلمانی... ‎ریال1,012,500 جدید  نمایش سریع سونیرشیت پانصدمین سالگرد... ‎ریال1,125,000 جدید  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر کارل آگوست -... ‎ریال27,000 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع مینی شیت مرگ فضانوردان... ‎ریال675,000 جدید  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر خیریه - ژان دو... ‎ریال63,000 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر صدمین سال تولد... ‎ریال28,800 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر سری پستی -... ‎ریال8,100 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر سری پستی جرمن... ‎ریال135,000 جدید  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر هفتاد و پنجمین... ‎ریال54,000 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع 2 عدد تمبر ژان باپتیست... ‎ریال1,203,750 جدید  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر دویستمین سالگرد... ‎ریال630,000 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع سونیرشیت چهره های ماندگار... ‎ریال630,000 جدید  نمایش سریع 1 عدد تمبر میراث مستند... ‎ریال45,000 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع 4 عدد تمبر هفتصدمین سال... ‎ریال225,000 جدید ناموجود  نمایش سریع 4 عدد تمبر روز جهانی جوانان... ‎ریال405,000 جدید ناموجود