Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander (Humboldt) von Humboldt (1769 - 1859)

Born 14 Sep 1769 in Berlin, Brandenburg, Preußen, Heiliges Römisches Reich

Ancestors

Died 6 May 1859 at age 89 in Berlin, Brandenburg, Preußen, Deutscher Bund

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Biography

Alexander (Humboldt) von Humboldt is Notable.

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was a German explorer and naturalist. He is best known for his works on botanical geography, laying the foundations of the new science of biogeography. Along with the botanist Aimé Bonpland (1773–1858), he travelled widely in South America between 1799 and 1804. Over the course of his travels, he compiled a list of Southern Hemisphere stars, observed a transit of Mercury across the Sun and collected samples of some 60,000 plants that grew at different altitudes and habitats.

Humboldt made a study of the various physical features, including Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador and the Orinoco River in Venezuela, he came across. He discovered a cold current of water flowing past the coast of Peru, known today as the Humboldt Current. Humboldt learned how the South American Indians prepared a poison—called curare—from plants, which they used to tip their arrows, and which paralyzed their victims.

See also

'Michael Faraday - a Sandemanian and Scientist' by Geoffrey Cantor

Sources

See also:

• The Britannica Guide to The 100 Most Influential Scientists (2007), pp. 140-145, 170, 173, 175.
• Wikipedia: Alexander von Humboldt
• Wikidata: Item Q6694, de:Wikipedia
• https://www.q-files.com/science/great-scientists/famous-scientists-a-z/
• Find A Grave: Memorial #11644884