Humboldt, (Friedrich Heinrich) Alexander, Baron von 1769-1859
German naturalist

Born in Berlin, he was the brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt. He studied at the universities of Frankfurt an der Oder, Berlin, G�ttingen, and under Abraham Werner in the Mining Academy at Freiburg. For five years (1799-1804) he and Aim� Bonpland explored unknown territory in South America, which led to his monumental Voyage de Humboldt et Bonpland aux Regions Equinoxiales (23 vols, 1805-34, Eng trans Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions, 7 vols, 1814-29). In Paris he made, with Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, experiments on the chemical constitution of the atmosphere, and he stayed in France until 1827. In 1829, he explored Central Asia with Christian Ehrenberg and the mineralogist Gustav Rose (1798-1873), and their examination of the strata which produce gold and platinum, magnetic observations, and geological and botanical collections are described in Humboldt's Asie Centrale (1843). Political changes led to his employment in political services, and during the following twelve years he made frequent visits to Paris, where he published his G�ographie du nouveau continent (1835-38). His work of popular science, Kosmos (1845-62), gave a comprehensive physical description of the universe.

Bibliography: L Kellner, Alexander von Humboldt (1963)