Alexander von Humboldt

Biography & Life

Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt. 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. Humboldt and Carl Ritter are both regarded as the founders of modern geography as an independent scientific discipline. 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. He resurrected the use of the word cosmos and assigned it to his multivolume treatise, Kosmos, in which he sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge and culture. This work motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity, introducing concepts of ecology leading to ideas of environmentalism. Humboldt is seen as "the father of ecology" and "the father of environmentalism".

Historical Significance

Founded modern geography and biogeography; known as the father of ecology and environmentalism for his holistic view of nature

Key Facts

• Profession: Polymath, Geographer, Naturalist, Explorer
• Lifespan: 1769 – 1859
• Nationality: German