But Humboldt turned his discomfort to advantage: he became the first person to ascribe mountain sickness to lack of oxygen in the rarefied air of great heights. Rosenberg, Matt. They were privately educated; instruction in political history and economics was added to the usual courses in classics, languages, and mathematics, as their mother intended them to be qualified for high public positions. He began to collect plant specimens in the surroundings of Berlin and learned to classify them. Alexander Von Humboldt stayed fit and healthy into his later … While on the west coast of South America, von Humboldt measured and discovered the Peruvian Current, which, over the objections of von Humboldt himself, is also known as the Humboldt Current. Humboldt, Alexander von. He also studied the oceanic current off the west coast of South America that was originally named after him but is now known as the Peru Current. Select personalised content. Von Humboldt sailed to Paris in 1804 and wrote thirty volumes about his field studies. When the pair arrived, worn and footsore, in Quito, Humboldt, the experienced mountaineer and indefatigable collector of scientific data, had no difficulty in assuming the role of courtier and man of the world when he was received by the viceroy and the leaders of Spanish society. Alexander von Humboldt, in full Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander, Freiherr (baron) von Humboldt, (born September 14, 1769, Berlin, Prussia [now in Germany]—died May 6, 1859, Berlin), German naturalist and explorer who was a major figure in the classical period of physical geography and biogeography —areas of science now included in the Earth sciences and ecology. The pair went to Madrid and obtained special permission and passports from King Charles II to explore South America. He supervised all mining activities, invented a safety lamp, and established, with his own funds, a technical school for young miners. He left Freiberg in 1792 after two years of intensive study but without taking a degree. A continuación podremos descubrir más detalles acerca de su vida, a través de una biografía de Alexander von Humboldt en la que conocerás sus grandes aportaciones en las diferentes disciplinas en las que colaboró a lo largo de su carrera. Life and Works of Alexander Von Humboldt: ADVERTISEMENTS: He was born in Berlin in 1769 and belonged to the family of a Prussian land-owning aristocracy. Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin, Germany in 1769. The first volume, a general overview of the universe, sold out in two months and was promptly translated into many languages. This monument pays tribute to Humboldt Park’s namesake, Alexander Von Humboldt (1769–1859), a naturalist and explorer from the Kingdom of Prussia, now part of modern-day northern Germany. During the 19th century, von Humboldt was one of the most celebrated men in Europe, studying subjects ranging from muscular irritability to the Earth’s magnetic force. Store and/or access information on a device. Completely shut off from the outside world, they offered enormous possibilities to a scientific explorer. Chimborazo (in modern Ecuador), then believed to be the tallest mountain in the world. After a morning spent underground in the mines, he attended classes for five or six hours in the afternoon and in the evening scoured the country for plants. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/alexander-von-humboldt-1435029. Alexander, a sickly child, at first was a poor student. Select basic ads. Lecturer in Physics, Imperial College of science father was an intrepid explorer the... Universe, volume 1 the Great in 1769 world, they offered enormous possibilities to a scientific explorer, and. 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