Alexander Von Humboldt (full name Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt) was born on September 14, 1769 in Berlin
, Germany. He was a Prussian naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt.
Biography and Career :
His father was a major in the Prussian army and after the Seven Years' War he was rewarded with the job of Royal Chamberlaine. He married to Maria Elizabeth von Colomb in 1766 and had two sons, Alexander was the younger one.
He was destined for a political career, so he studied finance during six months at the University of Frankfurt and one year later, on 25 April, 1789, he matriculated at Gi¶ttingen, then e
minent for the lectures of CG Heyne and J. F. Blumenbach.
In 1794 he was admitted to the intimacy of Weimar coterie and had his contribution to Schiller's new periodical, Die Horen, a philosophical allegory entitled "Die Lebenskraft,oder der rhodische Genius".
He went on a short visit to England in the summer of 1790 and in 1792 and 1797 he went to Vienna
. In 1795 he made a geological and botanical tour through Switzerland
and Italy. Meantime he got an official job: appointed assessor of mines at Berlin on the 29th of February.
His mother passed away on November 19, 1796 and this set him free to follow the bent of his genius. Throughout his life he formed strong emotional attachments to men, never marrying or becoming emotionally involved with any woman.
On December 7, 1804 his discovery of the decrease in intensity of Earth's magnetic field from the poles to the equator was communicated to the Paris
Institute in a memoir read by him, and its importance was attested by the speedy emergence of rival claims.
he was one of the most famous people in Europe. Between 1830-1848 he was employed in diplomatic missions to the court of Louis Philippe, with whom he had personal relations. His brother passed away on April 8, 1836 and this saddened him in the years until his death.
Upon the accession of the crown prince Frederick William IV in June 1840 von Humboldt's favor at court increased. There were published the first two volumes of the Cosmos between the years 1845-1847 and the third and the fourth between 1850-1858. On February 24, 1857 Humboldt suffered a minor apoplectic stroke and on May 6, 1859 he passed away at the age of 89.
Alexander Von Humboldt Image : biologie.uni-hamburg.de