Alexander Von Humboldt
| Alexander von Humboldt | |
 | |
Alexander von Humboldt (Alexander Humboldt) | |
| Birth | 14 September 1769 Berlin |
|---|---|
| Deaths | 6 May 1859 (89 years) Berlin |
| Nationality |  Germany |
| Occupation (s) | Naturalist , geographer and explorer |
| Activity (s) Home (s) | expeditions in South America |
| Honors | President of the Geographical Society of Paris |
| Family | Humboldt |
Friedrich Heinrich Alexander, Baron von Humboldt, better known by the name of Alexander von Humboldt Alexander von Humboldt, is a naturalist , geographer and explorer German , born 14 September 1769 in Berlin a mother original French , and death on 6 May 1859 in the same city. He was an associate member of the French Academy of Sciences and president of the Geographical Society of Paris. The quality of surveys conducted during his expeditions, he founded the bases of scientific explorations.
Summary |
Biography
Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin on 14 September 1769 of a military father Prussian Major von Humboldt, and a mother original French and Huguenot , Mary Elizabeth Columbus.
He is the younger brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt (Wilhelm von Humboldt), linguist , civil servant, diplomat, minister of Prussia and philosopher German. The latter, visionary research and education, founded the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1810.
Training
Humboldt's father, close to the royal family and the Freemasons , wanted to pass on to his son the best education in the spirit of the Enlightenment. It gives them for tutors Joachim Heinrich Campe , which follows the educational principles of Jean-Jacques Rousseau , then Johann Christian Gottlob Kunth. It teaches children the history, mathematics, Latin, Greek, French and German.
In nine years, the death of his father, Alexander was raised by his mother, the castle of Tegel , near Berlin. It continues to attach great importance to education of children to allow them access to high political office.
Alexander shows a keen interest in the natural history. While Wilhelm, a robust constitution, has a great ease in learning and moving towards the higher civil service, Alexander is frail and painfully learned. It tends towards an economics background. However, his relationship with Dr. von Feltion lost it. In Freiberg in Paris In 1792 , Humboldt wrote a major report on the geology and mining state. This report does promote general inspector of mines. Given the ignorance of minors who can not distinguish ore from a rock worthless, Humboldt opens a clandestine training school for juvenile that it finances its own money. He refuses the money that the Minister von Heinitz will send to defray its expenses. Humboldt conducts research to improve safety in mines. In 1794 , he earned a promotion to an office in Berlin and participated in diplomatic missions between states and German allies the French revolutionary army. In 1795 , von Heinitz offered him the coveted post of Director of Mines of Silesia in south-eastern Prussia. Humboldt refuses and leaves the public service. Humboldt did experiments on animals, the effect of electricity , they think to be contained in the nerves, and highlighted by the application of two metals differ. He even uses his own body for his experiments. In 1797 , he published his experiments on muscle and nerve fiber excited with conjectures about the chemical process of life in the animal and plant world. Alessandro Volta showed in 1795 that are metals that create electricity and invents the electric battery in 1800. Humboldt kept all his life the bitterness of failing to distinguish between physiological and electrical and not have deduced the principles of the stack. In 1796 , the death of his mother's release of its latest family ties and money worries with this legacy. The following year, in 1797 , he resigned from mines. With his friend von Buch , he will make scientific observations in the Tyrol. There he will develop the method identified weather that will be used worldwide. An expedition to Egypt with Lord Bristol , that Humboldt should join, is canceled by the invasion of Napoleon. Humboldt says: There is an advantage to be gained from the present situation is the elimination of the system feudal and all the privileges of the nobility . Admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville , a famous navigator and explorer, and hero of his childhood, he proposes to participate in an expedition to South America , in Mexico , in California , across the Pacific and the South Pole. Bougainville will be replaced by Baudin. A war with Austria leads the Executive to cancel the trip. Humboldt made the acquaintance of Aim Bonpland , naval surgeon and amateur naturalist. Aim Bonpland had, like Humboldt, participate in the expedition of Baudin. They become friends and decide to join the expedition learned that followed the troops Napoleon in Egypt. The boat they were never able to take Marseille , where they have come to expect. They decide to walk in Spain to take a boat to Smyrna. During the six-week journey, Humboldt made meticulous records geographical. Humboldt is presented to the king and queen of Spain. He obtained the passport with the stamp royal guarantees travelers the assistance of the authorities they encounter. Bonpland officially became secretary and companion of Humboldt. Humboldt and Bonpland were the first to conduct a scientific exploration worthy of the name. The major ambition of Humboldt during his trip to America is to discover the interaction of natural forces and influences exerted by the geographical environment on living plant and animal. 5 June 1799, they embarked at Corunna , on board the corvette "The Pizarro" bound for Venezuela , and after a stopover in the Canary Islands , arriving on July 16 at Cumana Venezuela, east of Caracas. While browsing, Humboldt measurements made astronomical , weather, magnetism , of temperature and composition of chemical from the sea In America, it has a profound distaste for how to sell and are assessed the slaves , even if it is in the Spanish possessions they are the least abused. Chateaubriand said of him in his edition of 1827 in Travel America: "In America, the illustrious Humboldt painted everything and said everything." Humboldt and Bonpland explore the rainforest in an attempt to confirm the presence, considered impossible, a natural canal between the Orinoco and the Amazon , the Canal Casiquiare , and locate the exact location of the source of the Orinoco. They collect many specimens of animals and plants unknown, and Humboldt is meticulously temperature of the river, soil and air, and atmospheric pressure , the magnetic inclination, the longitude and latitude. At Calabozo , in March 1800, Humboldt did catch electric eels (Electrophorus electricus) to continue his study of electricity in the animal world. At San Fernando , they take a driver with canoes, and Indians to paddle. Parts must happen by directing the canoe through the forest. Bites of mosquitoes , including all species take turns to eat throughout the day, are badly affected. On May 31 they explore areas of native tribes - the Maypures and Atures - which he had recently disappeared. They leave the Orinoco waters muddy for Atabapo, a tributary to the crystal clear waters, then pass through narrow channels through the forest. They carry their canoe seven miles up a tributary of the Amazon. Twenty-three Indians for three days are needed. It took thirty-six days packed in their canoes and attacked by parasites of all types to reach Amazon. Humboldt decides to go up a tributary of the Amazon to the channel Casiquiare which he is strictly the position. Humboldt and Bonpland were not the first Europeans to go that route, but the severity of their statements and descriptions they do, that there is more doubt on the existence of a navigable passage between the Amazon and Orinoco. The course of Cassiquary lasts twenty days, during which the insects are everywhere. On November 24, 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland embark on Cuba. During the first part of this expedition, which lasted one year, they collected many animals, and 20,000 botanical specimens. One-third of their crop is destroyed by moisture and insects, but the balance remains substantial. They send their collections to be broken up some few parts arrive. A series will be sent to the bottom, another captured by the British (and later restored by a buyer in Humboldt, years later). On 6 January 1802, they arrived at Quito , where they met the young Creole Carlos Montufar , who will follow during many trips to come. Humboldt learns that Baudin left France and must arrive at Lima , in Peru. To avoid the lack of trade winds , Humboldt and Bonpland decide to go by land along the Andes. They spend twelve months at altitude through the volcanoes. Their feet are bleeding, but still refuse to do as the local aristocracy: be carried away by Indians in chairs attached to their backs. Humboldt ensures worldwide fame by climbing Chimborazo , vertex considered at the time as the highest in the world and which he will devote a cult all her life (70 years, he had painted in front of the foot of the volcano Profile ). Chimborazo summit is the farthest from the center of the earth, although its elevation above sea level is significantly lower than the Himalayas, for example. This is due to the flattening of the Earth because it is not perfectly spherical and because Chimborazo is very close to the equator . The ascent of Chimborazo begins June 23, 1802. They could not reach the top, they were arrested, a few hundred meters from both a deep crevasse and the lack of oxygen. However, they rose to the highest altitude that had ever been reached then: they reach 5878 m, the Chimborazo peak at 6310 meters. Humboldt makes observations in the field of seismology and phytogeography , he published a vegetation map on his return from the volcano. He inferred alignments of volcanoes that mountain ranges were formed along geological faults. Former disciple of the Neptunian theory which says that the rocks were formed from sediments liquid, it radically changes his mind and converted to plutonism. Baudin learning that will not stop in Lima, Humboldt, Bonpland and Montufar are heading to Peru. They make a brief passage near the headwaters of the Amazon and the Andes join. The expedition returned to Lima on 22 October 1802. Humboldt collects the guano into the analysis done in Europe. It is he who will inform the Europe and North America its fertilizing properties. Humboldt and his companions leave South America and spend the year 1803 traveling the Mexico : March 23, they landed at Acapulco , after a passage of the most tormented and in April they are in Mexico. Humboldt wrote his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, the first test of regional geography, in which he makes only brief narrative of his travels. He then embarked for Havana to retrieve its collections deposited there over three years. Believing it his duty to salute Thomas Jefferson , President of the United States , he extended his trip and going to Philadelphia , once the capital of the country. Humboldt is hosted by the American Philosophical Society , built on the model of the Royal Society of London and founded by Benjamin Franklin. Humboldt spent most of his time with members of the Company. Montufar Bonpland and do not speak English, their role is more than extras. Humboldt meets Jefferson with whom they speak only of natural history, customs in different countries, and means of raising living standards. The two men get along so well that Jefferson Humboldt invited to stay with him. The two men will maintain a regular correspondence until death in 1826, Jefferson . The shipment of Humboldt and Bonpland, lasting five years, has cost the Humboldt-third of its capital. This is one of the most remarkable scientific expeditions, with a wealth of data from a scientific value even more important that the specimens they could relate. Humboldt arrived off Bordeaux 1 August 1804. He moved to Paris between 1804 and 1827. He finds the world scientist of his time. It is part of the Society of Arcueil formed around the chemist Berthollet also occur where Francois Arago , Jean-Baptiste Biot , Louis-Joseph Gay-Lussac with which Humboldt became friends. They publish several scientific papers together. Humboldt and Gay-Lussac conducting joint experiments on the composition of the atmosphere , the terrestrial magnetism . Humboldt offers his herbarium at the Natural History Museum of Paris. The collection is accepted by decree in 1805. He published in French account of his journey. He frequented the salons of Paris as that of Madame Recamier. He became friends with Chateaubriand. He was received by Napoleon on suspicion of espionage on behalf of the Prussian . After giving informed at the Institut de France , Humboldt is recognized by leading scientists of his time. He was elected a correspondent for the general physics section of the 1st class of the National Institute of Science and Arts 16 Pluvise XII (February 6, 1804), Foreign Associate of the Academy of Sciences May 14, 1810 . Paris is the capital of science and, despite the request of his brother to return to Prussia and the rents he could receive without effort, Humboldt decides to stay to sort its collections and preparing a monumental work from its experience. During a party at Fanny Trobriand , in 1804, Humboldt meets revolutionary Venezuelan Simn Bolvar that would have exposed his political ideas . Before meeting with Gay-Lussac in Berthollet , in 1805, Humboldt had learned that the young physicist had beaten his record for altitude reached on Mount Chimborazo in measuring the atmosphere aboard his balloon. In 1799, Gay-Lussac had also prepared a report critical of the report on the eudiometers presented by Humboldt at the National Institute. Their meeting, however sealed a lasting friendship which ended only with their lives and who is responsible for scientific discoveries. In 1805, Humboldt and Gay-Lussac undertake a scientific journey to Italy to study the magnetism land. They publish their observations on the return of intensity and inclination of the magnetic forces (1808). They thus confirm the law discovered by Humboldt in America that the intensity of the magnetic force is increasing from the equator to the poles and the slopes decrease with latitude on a regular basis. They also conduct experiments on the water through the eudiometer and find the simplicity of the combined volume of both gases (2.00) while Fourcroy , Vauquelin and Seguin gave the fractional number 2.05. By extending this property to all gases, Gay-Lussac formulated the Law of Gay-Lussac , which is one of the major laws of chemistry and modern his being elected to the Academy of Sciences in 1806. Gay-Lussac and Humboldt also visit Germany as part of their scientific journey. Humboldt found and Berlin in October. He was appointed chamberlain of the king. He works with a team to regroup and put in proper order the data it has collected. It measures magnetism day and night and noticed that the needle varies with time. In January 1808 , Humboldt is sent by the King of Prussia to Prince William in Paris embassy to decrease the amount of war indemnities. He works in the edition of his journey was not completed until 1834. The collection contains fourteen tracks and thirty volumes. In 1808 he published appearance of nature, popular work is his most popular book. Humboldt remains in Paris and can devote himself to his work. Since France has invaded Prussia, Humboldt receives more revenue from its fields. He lives in Paris in a rented room he shares with Gay-Lussac Street Estrapade the old and the Rue d'Enfer , near the Observatory. He never sleeps more than three to four hours per day. Since 1807 , he was closely guarded by French police because he is German and his private correspondence that reflects the political views of the Parisian salons. He writes from 1 000 to 2000 letters per year. In 1809 , he met Francois Arago , fifteen years her junior, with whom he sympathizes and will remain until near the end of his life. They experiment together with the Observatory. The fall of the Empire in 1814 led to the departure of Bonpland who returns to America. Humboldt continues to remain in France, which irritates the Prince William . During the occupation of Paris by Prussian troops, it intervenes to protect the National Museum of Natural History or avoid the destruction of the Pont d'Iena. He refused the post of ambassador of Prussia in Paris because he does not condone the reactionary policy which governs Europe after the fall of Napoleon . He founded with other scholars the Geographical Society in 1821. In 1826 , Humboldt received a letter from King of Prussia urging him to leave Paris. He can now spend four months of vacation per year. Humboldt holds office of chamberlain in Berlin, where power is very conservative and repressive. Humboldt is much hated for his liberal ideas and his commitment to France. In 1827 , Humboldt gets a lot of success by teaching at the university and lectures to a wider audience. The scientific community is not in Berlin, as in Paris, academic meetings to exchange ideas. Humboldt organizes a meeting of the Scientific Association in Berlin, attended by six hundred of the most renowned scholars. From conferences formatted Humboldt began to write the Cosmos, testing a physical description of the world. In 1827 , the Russian finance minister calls on Humboldt's views on the issue of coins minted in platinum. The platinum price is unstable, Humboldt issues a negative opinion and suggested to study the mines of the Urals. In March 1829 , Humboldt went to Russia at the expense of the emperor, with Gustav Rose , a professor of chemistry and mineralogy, CG Ehrenberg , zoologist, and a servant. In Russia , he was welcomed as an important personality official. He shared his meals with the family of the Tsar. From Moscow , the expedition has expanded mining industry officials, bureaucrats and local authorities. Humboldt spent a month studying the mines of the Urals. Thanks to the presence of veins of platinum and sand gold , he predicts the presence of diamonds in the Urals. Humboldt and Rose microscopically scrutinize each gold deposit they encounter. That Count Polier, owner of such deposits, and to whom Humboldt expressed his theory that the first diamond found in the Urals. The expedition through Siberia to the Altai. As usual, Humboldt made barometric measurements. Humboldt and his companions return after six months of shipment, and after traveling nearly nineteen thousand kilometers. Humboldt is studied and simulated the creation of a network of magnetic stations and weather, making regular observations and operating with identical devices. He leaves it to Rose and Ehrenberg publish the results of the expedition. It was not until 1843 that published his Central Asia in three volumes. Humboldt continues to reside regularly in Paris. King of Prussia asked to strengthen ties between Prussia and France. Humboldt spent two years in Paris in 1842-1843 and more than a year in 1844 and 1847 Contributions to science from Humboldt Humboldt wrote in French the results of scientific voyage to America with Bonpland in a set of thirty volumes published in Paris in the first three decades of the nineteenth century. Journey to the equinoctial regions of the New Continent includes atlases, treatises on geography and economics on Cuba and Mexico , an account of his travels and a critical examination of the history of the geography of the New Continent, many boards concerning botany. Humboldt wrote his scientific papers in collaboration with other scientists. He dedicates the volume devoted to geology to his friend Goethe. During the last years of his life, Humboldt writes in German Cosmos, the result of five years working on the topics presented at conferences. He describes in five volumes all knowledge of the time on terrestrial and celestial phenomena. The aim of this work is to communicate the intellectual excitement and the practical necessity of scientific research. Humboldt was also published in many journals, particularly with Gay-Lussac , as regards France, in the memoirs of Physics and Chemistry of the Society of Arcueil. His scientific approach is characterized by: Humboldt combines know that an honest man of the Enlightenment that embraces all areas and that of a nineteenth century scientist who works in specialized fields. Humboldt is considered the father of geography today. It reached and applied the two principles that make geography a science distinct from physical and biological sciences: Humboldt has forged particularly new terms like isodynamic , insulated , isoclines , Jurassic , magnetic storm. He laid the foundations of physical geography and geophysics , including the seismology. Humboldt is the source of many botanical discoveries, including the brugmansia. He drew the attention of Europeans on the mineral wealth of South America. The Humboldt Current was named in his honor. The historical relationship of travel to regions of equinoctial Humboldt inspired young naturalists like The current Alexander von Humboldt Foundation was established in Germany at the death of the scientist, for the promotion of young researchers in the field of science. Alexander von Humboldt has interested some theorists of sexuality. Havelock Ellis reported that the criminologist Paul Nacke (1851-1913) investigated the case of Humboldt and drew "the best foundation to look like a Humboldt invert . The German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld has made much of the evidence collected in the early 1910s, among those still living who experienced Humboldt as an actor of the homosexual subculture, and one of these stories comes from the scientist Carl August Bolle who is regarded himself as gay . Humboldt has burned all his private correspondence in his possession, which means that before have new documents, you can not have details about his private life. Historians who have drawn the conclusion that the latter was absent ignore this loss of documents. All that we know, besides the testimony mentioned above, is that Humboldt has remained a bachelor, he preferred, as a rule, the company of men than women and that he bequeathed his property, not to members of his family but to his faithful servant. Nonetheless attributed to Humboldt affair with the officer Reinhard von Haeften , the painter Carl von Steuben , the chemist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac , with whom he lived for four years in Paris , and with Franois Arago . Humboldt was a friend of the botanist Aim Bonpland , who accompanied him during his expedition to Latin America. In the correspondence of Humboldt and Bonpland, as published in 2004, the friendship is indistinguishable from science , but it is not about sexuality. Humboldt wrote in 1806: "You know, dear Bonpland, I hate anyone in the world as you fraternally and Gay . (French) (French) (In chronological order of publication in French) Ship America
The Upper Orinoco
De La Havana, Quito
The Andes
Transition to United States
Review of shipping
Return to Europe
Paris
Humboldt and Gay-Lussac
Humboldt and Arago
Diplomatic Actions
Berlin
The Siberian Expedition
Final years
Publications
Scientific inquiry
Geography
Special features
Posterity
Sexuality
Quotes
Bibliographical Orientation
Works
Articles
Correspondence
Biographical Studies
Studies
See also
Related articles
External Links
References
Humb. Stands Botanical official
See the list of abbreviations of author or the list of plants assigned to the author by IPNI
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