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defined the Jurassic and the Kueper or Upper Triassic, and Karl
Freiesleben, who became Humboldt’s tutor and close friend.
In 1792, Humboldt began working in Berlin as an assessor of
mines. Here he continued his strong work ethic, being promoted
and engaging in a number of diplomatic assignments. While he
lived in Vienna from 1792–1797, he explored Italy and Switzerland.
His descriptions of flora in the mines were published in Florae
Fribergensis Specimen in 1793.
At age 27 Humboldt used his inheritance to begin his scientific
expeditions. He first traveled with botanist Aime Bonpland (1773–
1858) to Madrid to request special permission to explore South
America. The king of Spain granted a permit and in the summer
of 1799 he and Bonpland commenced their travels for five years in
Central and South America, covering more than 6000 miles (9656
km) by foot, horseback, and by canoe. They climbed many moun-
tain peaks, particularly near Quito, Ecuador, including most of the
way up Chimborazo (20,702 feet or 6310 m)—standing for almost
30 years as the highest human ascent record. Humboldt’s diary of
Spanish America adventures, at over 4,000 pages, were seminal
for his many published works, and he provided drawings such as
of columnar basalts, mountains, and plants.
Some perhaps less known albeit important geology-related work
of Humboldt beyond mines and minerals included his study of
trace fossils such as the “hand-beast” footprint in Germany in
1833 (Knoll, 2009), vertebrate paleontology as is evidenced by his
overseeing excavations near Bogota, Colombia (Bressen, 2014), Humboldt sketched this site in Mexico and published
it in 1813. Public domain.
and his assessment of manganese-dominated mineral coatings on
rocks along cataracts of the Orinoco River that has been proven litho, hydro, and atmos—as this is paramount for us not only to
overall correct based on modern analytical results (Dorn et al., praise Earth but to preserve it. His spirit lives on to inspire us all
2012). He also recognized the stratigraphic changes associated to understand and value these interconnections inherent in modern
with rocks and coined the term “formation.” Furthermore, he sur- geological sciences.
mised that there must have been extinction events associated with
life on Earth, which was not well accepted at the time. FURTHER READING
Upon completion of the Spanish America expedition in 1804, Becker, T.W., and Faccenna, C., 2019, The scientist who connected it all: Eos,
v. 100, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO132583.
Humboldt visited the United States and President Thomas Jefferson. Biermann, K.R., editor, 1987, Alexander von Humboldt. Aus Meinem Leben
Humboldt then went to Paris, residing there for 23 years, until 1827, Autobiographische Bekenntnisse: Munich, C.H. Beck, 228 p.
publishing about 30 volumes chronicling the expeditions of the Bressen, D., 2014, Alexander von Humboldt and the hand-beast: Scientific Amer-
Americas. In order to make a living, he secured an advising role for ican, 14 Sept. 2014, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/
the King of Prussia. His last big excursion was in 1829 to Russia, alexander-von-humboldt-and-the-hand-beast/ (accessed 9 May 2022).
where he was the first to find diamonds outside of the tropics and Bruhns, K., editor, 1873, Life of Alexander von Humboldt: London, Longmans,
Green & Co.
where he started investigating geomagnetism. He later documented Dorn, R.I., Krinsley, D.H., and Ditto, J., 2012, Revisiting Alexander von Hum-
mineral associations such as gold, platinum, and diamonds. After boldt’s Initiation of Rock Coating Research: The Journal of Geology, v. 120, no.
returning to Germany, he became famous for his speeches and 1, p. 1–14, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/662737 (accessed 9 May 2022).
began work on Cosmos, publishing the first volume in 1845. Helferich, G., 2004, Humboldt’s Cosmos, Alexander Humboldt and the Latin
The zest that Humboldt had for exploring the world’s awesome American Journey that Changed the way we see the world: Tantor eBooks, a
division of Tantor Media Inc. (original and e-copyright 2011).
wonders was inspirational for his contemporaries (e.g., Simon Knoll, F., 2009, Alexander von Humboldt and the hand-beast: A contribution to
Bolivar, Charles Darwin) and his students (e.g., Louis Agassiz and paleontology from the last universal scholar: Comptes Rendus Palevol, v. 8,
father of organic chemistry Justus von Liebig) but also for earth p. 427–436, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2008.12.001.
scientists since his death. Due to his comprehensive approach to Walls, L.D., 2009, The passage to Cosmos, Alexander von Humboldt and the
Shaping of America: Chicago and London, University of Chicago Press, 424 p.
documenting natural systems, Humboldt was probably one of the Wulf, A., 2015, The Invention of Nature—Alexander Von Humboldt’s New
most influential to document Earth’s interacting spheres—bio, World: New York, Vintage Press, 496 p.

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