A discovery of the ecology of Plants and variations in climate - Alexander Von Humboldt

Alexander Von Humboldt is a guy that is not really that familiar outside of his home town of Germany, unless like me, you are either study Earth/Environmental science or just love reading about it, or maybe you do and still have not heard of him.  I think this guy deserves a mention to say the least, and that everyone should be familiar with him, as his claims to be one of the most important scientists of the past 200 years are extremely persuasive!

He was born in Berlin in 1769, and was well educated and socially privileged enough to be involved in a wide range of political and intellectual affairs at the time when Prussia was at the heart of European politics.  Humboldt was determined to follow in the steps of a Joseph Banks who he had met, by travelling the world for the benefits of science such as Banks did.

He began his career exploring, discovering, cataloguing and sheer scientific entrepreneurship.  He did pioneer work in botany, geology, meteorology, animal physiology, geomagnetism and zoology, discovering new minerals and diamond deposits.  Back home in Germany, he played an important role in the reform of universities, the fostering of research the linking with university scientists with industry.
Overall, he was responsible for a massive professionalisation of science and educational practice.

What really interested me was that he was one of the first scientists to be interested in developing big pictures of climatic trends around the world.  He made wide-ranging studies of temperature variations around Earth and recognised the importance of considering other variables still, such as altitude and aspect on the diverse range of ecology at different altitudes, creating maps outlining this.  These maps were the forerunners of modern maps of average seasonal variations around the Earth, which have recently become of crucial importance in the study of global warming.  One of his papers in 1817, reporting on the variation of the mean temperature around the Earth's surface, invented the concept of the isotherm - any meteorologist will certainly understand the importance of this.

The diversity of Humboldt's interests led naturally to his introduction of comparative studies, looking at correlations between climate, diversity, flora, and topography.  It created a new way of thinking and correlating facts, and is memorial to the contribution he made to science and the great German's talent.  He is certainly a name that should be known a lot more than it is.


A. von Humboldt, Essai sur la geographi des plantes, Paris, 1805.