Alexander, Freiherr von Humboldt summary

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For the full article, see <a href="/biography/Alexander-von-Humboldt">Alexander von Humboldt</a>. </div> <div class="collection-content topic-paragraph"> <article class="content"><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="11890" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media" data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/83/10883-050-7FF1CAB4/Alexander-von-Humboldt-oil-painting-Friedrich-Georg-1806.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/276083/11890"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/83/10883-050-7FF1CAB4/Alexander-von-Humboldt-oil-painting-Friedrich-Georg-1806.jpg?w=740&h=416&c=crop"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/83/10883-050-7FF1CAB4/Alexander-von-Humboldt-oil-painting-Friedrich-Georg-1806.jpg?w=740&h=416&c=crop" alt="Alexander von Humboldt" data-width="1196" data-height="1600" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/83/10883-050-7FF1CAB4/Alexander-von-Humboldt-oil-painting-Friedrich-Georg-1806.jpg" data-href="/media/1/276083/11890">Alexander von Humboldt</a><span>Alexander von Humboldt, oil painting by Friedrich Georg Weitsch, 1806; in the National Museums in Berlin.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong>Alexander, Freiherr von Humboldt</strong>, (born Sept. 14, 1769, Berlin, Prussia鈥攄ied 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鈥檚 geography and its flora and fauna, and added to an understanding of the development of the Earth鈥檚 crust. In Paris he used his financial resources to help <a href="https://www.britannica.com/summary/Louis-Agassiz" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Louis Agassiz</a> 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 <em>Kosmos</em>, an account of the structure of the universe as then known.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span></section> </article></div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/ecology"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/36/6636-004-6BF72313/Mourning-doves-nest-branches-cactus-Sonoran-Desert.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="mourning doves (Zenaida macroura)" width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/ecology" >ecology Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Ecology, study of the relationships between organisms and their environment. Some of the most pressing problems in human affairs鈥攅xpanding populations, food scarcities, environmental pollution including global warming, extinctions of plant and animal species, and all the attendant sociological and</div> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/geology"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/84/126184-050-04CE30FA/rock-formation-faux-amphibolite-greenstone-belt-Nuvvuagittuq.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="faux amphibolite" width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/geology" >geology Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Geology, the fields of study concerned with the solid Earth. Included are sciences such as mineralogy, geodesy, and stratigraphy. An introduction to the geochemical and geophysical sciences logically begins with mineralogy, because Earth鈥檚 rocks are composed of minerals鈥攊norganic elements or</div> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/geography"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/00/75400-050-119F134C/Camel-Pyramids-of-Giza-Egypt.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="camel; Pyramids of Giza" width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/geography" >geography Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Geography, the study of the diverse environments, places, and spaces of Earth鈥檚 surface and their interactions. It seeks to answer the questions of why things are as they are, where they are. The modern academic discipline of geography is rooted in ancient practice, concerned with the</div> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal mb-20" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/plant"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/23/60423-050-A24B296C/Weeping-willow.jpg?w=100&h=75&c=crop" alt="weeping willow tree" width="100" height="75" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/plant" >plant Summary</a> <div class="font-weight-light font-serif font-14 line-clamp clamp-2 ilf-description">Plant, (kingdom Plantae), any multicellular eukaryotic life-form characterized by (1) photosynthetic nutrition (a characteristic possessed by all plants except some parasitic plants and underground orchids), in which chemical energy is produced from water, minerals, and carbon dioxide with the aid</div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"TopicCollectionPage","templateName":"CONCISE","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":4,"pageId":null,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.133.36"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-133/dist/topic-collection-page.js?v=3.133.36' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"TopicCollectionPage","pageSubtype":"CONCISE","articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Alexander, Freiherr von Humboldt summary | Britannica