Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt(German: Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt) - German encyclopedist, physicist, meteorologist, geographer, botanist, zoologist and traveler. Scientific interests Humboldt were unusually diverse.
A cold current near him is named after him. western shores South America(Peruvian Current), which he discovered in 1802, as well as a lake and river in the USA (Nevada), a city and bay in California, a glacier in Greenland, mountains in Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and Central Asia, a crater on the Moon.
Alexander Humboldt is one of the greatest scientists late XVIII - early XIX centuries and a rare type of encyclopedist scientist for the 19th century. Contemporaries called Humboldt Aristotle of the 19th century, “the king of sciences and friend of kings.”.
Baron Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm von Humboldt was born on September 14, 1769 in Berlin. He was the second son in the family of a poor and not very noble nobleman from Pomerania. Fate gave Humboldt 90 years of life. And almost every year was filled with intense and fruitful work for the benefit of science.
Humboldt's father, with the rank of major, served as aide-de-camp to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, then became chamberlain at the court of the Saxon Elector, and lived the rest of his life in Berlin, being a courtier to King Frederick II of Prussia. The mother of the future traveler, née Colombe, brought her husband a considerable fortune. She owned Tegel Castle, a house in Berlin and other property.
The Humboldt children received an excellent education for those times. At first they studied at home. The tutor Christian Kunt, a great admirer of Rousseau, instilled in them a love of literature, philosophy, and history. Dr. Ludwig Heim, who later became a famous doctor, studied botany with the children and introduced them to the latest knowledge in the area natural sciences. In Berlin, famous scientists were invited as teachers for children, who mainly taught philosophy to the boys, legal sciences, ancient languages.
In 1787, the Humboldt brothers, at the insistence of their mother, went to continue their education at the University of Frankfurt. However, a year later, Alexander returned to Berlin, where he studied Greek and botany, and in 1789, together with his brother Karl, he entered the famous University of Göttingen and began to study all sciences at once.
In 1790, Georg Forster, one of the founders of scientific geographical travel, J. Cook's companion traveled with Humboldt through Europe, during which he taught his young friend the techniques of observing nature. The student not only learned the lessons well, but developed them and over time achieved significant results.
Returning from his trip, Humboldt continued his education at the Trade Academy in Hamburg, then at the Mining Academy in Freiburg, where he became a student of another outstanding scientist, geologist A. G. Werner.
Science, and its various fields, passionately attracted Humboldt. However, for five whole years, from 1792 to 1797, he had to work as a mining official in Franconia. During his travels, the young official could study mineralogy and even published a number of articles in different scientific journals. But he continued to passionately dream of travel.
After the death of his mother, when Humboldt received an inheritance of 85 thousand thalers, he was able to devote himself entirely to his favorite work - science and travel.
Alexander Humboldt decided to organize an expedition at his own expense and invited the talented botanist E Bonpland, who also had a passion for travel, to participate in it. Together on the corvette Pizarro, on June 5, 1799, they set sail for America.
“My main goal,” the scientist wrote, “is the physics of the world, the structure globe, air analysis, physiology of plants and animals, finally - general relations organic beings in inanimate nature..." And Alexander Humboldt accomplished this grandiose task, becoming the founder of a new complex method exploring the world. But this required not one journey, but his entire long life.
On this expedition, which became Humboldt's "finest hour", a young scientist visited Venezuela, until then closed to non-Spaniards, spent 4 months on the Orinoco River and proved its connection with the Amazon. Having collected enormous material in Venezuela, he went to Cuba, then returned to the mainland, climbed the Magdalena River, overcame a mountain pass and reached the city of Quito, the capital of Ecuador, which is located on the southern slope of the Pichincha volcano, at an altitude of 2818 m above sea level.
Then Humboldt explored the Andes all the way to northern Peru and visited the upper reaches of the Amazon. Humboldt paid a lot of attention to the study of volcanoes. He climbed Chimborazo to a height of 5881 m, although he did not reach the crater (the height of the volcano is 6272 m), he still set a record. Before him, no researcher had reached so far high mark.
In March 1803, both travelers arrived in Mexico, where they covered all the provinces in a year. Humboldt continued to study volcanoes, incl. the most famous is Popocatepetl.
Then from Veracruz the travelers again headed to Havana, and from there to the North American cities of Philadelphia and Washington. Before his trip to the USA, Humboldt first corresponded with President Jefferson, also a great scientist. In Washington, the German scientist met not only with him, but also with other American statesmen. One of them wrote: “The treasures of his knowledge are worth more than the richest gold mine.” Humboldt was invited to stay in the USA, but he refused and in August 1804 he returned to Europe with Bonpland.
Despite the fact that Alexander Humboldt's expedition did not make any territorial discoveries, according to scientific results historians rank her among the greatest. Scientists brought with them huge collections: the herbarium alone consisted of 6 thousand plant specimens, about half of which were unknown to science.
Returning from America to Europe with rich collections, Humboldt processed them in Paris for more than 20 years together with other prominent scientists. In 1807-1834, the 30-volume “Travel to the Equinox Regions of the New World in 1799-1804” was published. most of which consists of descriptions of plants (16 volumes), astronomical, geodetic and cartographic materials (5 volumes), another part - zoology and comparative anatomy, a description of the journey, etc. Based on the materials of the expedition, Humboldt published a number of other works, including “Pictures of Nature ".
In 1827 he moved from Paris to Berlin, where he served as chamberlain and advisor to the Prussian king. In 1829, the great geographer, naturalist and traveler Alexander Humboldt traveled across Russia - to the Urals, Altai and the Caspian Sea. The nature of Asia was covered in the works "Fragments on the Geology and Climatology of Asia (1831) and Central Asia (1915).
Later, Humboldt tried to summarize all scientific knowledge about the nature of the Earth and the Universe in the monumental work “Cosmos”. This work of Humboldt is an outstanding work of advanced materialist natural philosophy of the first half of the 19th century century. Humboldt's works have influenced great influence for the development of natural science.
Based on general principles and using the comparative method, Alexander Humboldt created physical geography, designed to find out the patterns in earth's surface. Humboldt's views served as the basis for the general physical geography and landscape science, as well as plant geography and climatology. Humboldt substantiated the idea of a natural zonal distribution of vegetation on the Earth's surface, developed environmental direction in plant geography.
He paid great attention climate studies and for the first time widely used average statistical indicators to characterize it, developed the isotherm method and compiled schematic map their distribution for Northern Hemisphere. Humboldt gave detailed description continental and coastal climates, pointed out the reasons for their differences and the processes of formation.
An essential character trait of the scientific naturalist was absolute unselfishness when it came to science. Humboldt spent 52 thousand thalers on organizing his famous expedition, 180 thousand were spent on processing and publishing its results. Thus, Humboldt completely spent his personal fortune on scientific purposes.
Humboldt was not married and had no family. His only love there was science. He gave his life and fortune to her. The scientist's financial situation in old age was very unenviable. Thus, owing a significant amount to the banker Mendelssohn, Humboldt did not even know whether the things in the house belonged to him.
At the end of April 1859, Humboldt caught a severe cold and died a few days later, just four months shy of his ninetieth birthday. He was buried at the expense of the state with great honors.
Wilhelm von Humboldt had a huge influence on the development of culture and literature. His works continue to influence scientists and thinkers of our time. Every educated person considers it his duty to carefully study the works that Humboldt Wilhelm wrote in his time. His thoughts and conclusions still remain relevant for contemporaries of the 20th and 21st centuries. To understand his ideas, it is necessary to delve into his biography, find out in which city Wilhelm Humboldt was born, where he worked, whose friendship had a special influence on him.
Origin
Wilhelm von Humboldt, like his no less gifted younger brother Alexander, came from a noble and wealthy family that had significant opportunities and finances. They also owned the famous Tegel Castle in Berlin.
Humboldt Wilhelm was born on June 22, 1767 in the city of Potsdam. His father, Alexander Georg, came from a family of the Prussian bourgeoisie. His grandfather became a nobleman due to his military merits. Mother, Baroness Elisabeth von Holwede has French roots. The oppression of the Huguenots in France forced her family to leave their native land and move to Germany, to Berlin. When Alexander Georg arrived in Berlin after retiring, he met his future wife. They had two sons - Alexander and Wilhelm.
Education
The Humboldt family spared no expense in the education of their children. At the age of 20, Wilhelm Humboldt entered the university in Frankfurt an der Oder, and in 1788 he began listening to lectures on philology and history at the University of Göttingen. From 27 to 30 years old he lived in Jena, where he made many acquaintances with famous philosophers and thinkers. Among them, the names of Schiller and Goethe are especially worth noting. Subsequently, he leaves for Paris to study the culture of France - after all, partly French blood flows in him. At the same time, he spent a lot of time traveling around Spain and the Basque region.
Professional activities
Humboldt Wilhelm became a significant figure in the political arena Prussia. IN different times from 1801 to 1819 he held important government posts and was envoy plenipotentiary in Vienna, the Vatican, Paris, and Prague. While serving as Minister of Religious Affairs and Education, he managed to implement a large-scale reform of secondary and higher education in Prussia. It was Humboldt who came up with the idea to derive primary school from under religious influence and make it an independent educational institution.
In 1809 he founded a university in Berlin. Now it's educational institution named after Humboldt. It was in Berlin that Wilhelm Humboldt lived and worked, whose biography is inextricably linked with one of the most influential cities in Germany.
Humboldt did not stop there. His merits are obvious in the famous one who determined the new structure of Europe after the fall of Napoleon's power. Until 1819, Wilhelm Humboldt was an influential diplomat and participated in making the most important decisions for the country. He represented the interests of the country at international arena and achieved great success in this field.
Hobbies
The brilliant education and financial security of his family allowed Wilhelm to enter the circle of prominent scientists and philosophers of his time. Besides professional interest to politics, von Humboldt was always interested in humanism and its ideas. For example, back in the 1790s he wrote a work entitled “Thoughts on an attempt to determine the boundaries of state action,” in which he develops the idea of complete freedom of the individual from the state. Humboldt sets out the idea that the main task of the state is to ensure the territorial integrity of the country, but to interfere in the affairs of individual citizens it has no right. The ideas expressed in this work were so innovative that the work was censored and banned from publication. It was published only in mid-19th century.
This is not the only work in which Wilhelm Humboldt expressed his ideas and reflections. Linguistics received in his person one of the reformers and founders of modern concepts.
Thanks to his broad outlook and high education, Wilhelm Humboldt entered all literary salons. He was often invited to listen to his opinion on this or that matter, to get feedback on the literary works he had read.
In 1791, his wife was Caroline von Dahereden, one of the most educated and smart women of its time. She helped and supported everything that Wilhelm von Humboldt did. After the wedding, the Humboldt house became a place of regular meetings the best minds all over Europe. Here one could meet writers, scientists, philosophers, and politicians.
Traveling became one of Wilhelm's main hobbies. He traveled a lot around European countries, often stopping for a long time in Switzerland and Rome. It was during his travels that he became imbued with a love and great interest in foreign languages and other cultures.
Proceedings
The linguistic concept of Wilhelm Humboldt received its maximum development after his retirement and completion of his political and public career. He had a lot of free time, and managed to bring his thoughts and ideas into a single written form.
The first work was the work “On the comparative study of languages in relation to different eras their development." He read it at the Academy of Sciences. Next, the work “On the Emergence of grammatical forms and their influence on the development of ideas." It laid out the basics theoretical linguistics, which was described by Wilhelm Humboldt. Linguistics still draws a lot from his works, and theorists discuss his ideas and postulates.
There are also unfinished works that Humboldt Wilhelm did not have time to finalize and publish. “On the Kawi Language on the Island of Java” is one such work. What to emphasize the versatility and breadth of talent and thought of this philosopher and thinker.
His main work, “On the difference in structure human languages and its influence on spiritual development of humanity,” was published, unfortunately, posthumously. In it, Humboldt Wilhelm tried to present the essence of his research in as much detail as possible.
He emphasized the unity of the spirit of the people and their language. After all, language reflects creativity each language, reflects the soul of the entire people.
Achievements
Wilhelm von Humboldt became not only a prominent political statesman, but also left a significant mark as an outstanding scientist. He defended the interests of his country during the territorial redistribution of Europe and the creation of a new world order. And he did it certainly successfully. His activities were highly valued by the emperor. He was a skilled diplomat.
After finishing your professional activities and with the advent of free time, he began to study languages, their classification, isolation common features and differences. He outlined his ideas in his works, which were published. The depth of research was so serious that his concept formed the basis new science- linguistics. Some of his ideas anticipated their time by a hundred years and were confirmed decades later. Based on his conclusions, a separate science of sounds in linguistics emerged - phonology.
His educational reform helped advance efforts to eliminate illiteracy among the population. It was under him that the school began to acquire familiar features. Before this there was no system school education practically did not exist.
Cultural heritage
The works of Wilhelm von Humboldt laid the foundation for a new science - linguistics, linguistics. He argued theses that gave food for thought to many philosophers and scientists. Until now, linguists are discussing and debating many of his conclusions, agreeing with some things, arguing about others. But one thing is indisputable - it is impossible to study this science and not know the name of Wilhelm Humboldt.
Besides scientific works, which Wilhelm von Humboldt left to his descendants about language, another significant bequest was the university he founded, in which they received higher education thousands of young and gifted people.
Significance for contemporaries
Wilhelm von Humboldt's concept was a revolution in linguistics. Yes, according to the recognition of most theorists, scientific thought has moved forward, and some of the provisions and ideas of the founder of this science have already become outdated and irrelevant. But nevertheless, it will be very useful for every scientist to learn and understand the course of von Humboldt’s logical reasoning in the process of creating his works.
He spent a lot of time organizing and classifying various languages By language groups And general features or differences. Humboldt talked about the constancy and at the same time variability of language - how it changes over time, what influences these changes, which of them will remain forever, and which will gradually disappear.
Monuments and Monuments
There are dozens of monuments in honor of Wilhelm von Humboldt around the world, but one of the most outstanding is the crater on visible side Luna, who was given the name of the great scientist.
In Berlin, a monument was erected in honor of Humboldt on one of the main streets of the city - Unter den Linden.
Many specialists who worked on Humboldt's biography noticed that not a single person could capture his universal activity.
We are not going to do this either, having noted only those most interesting, in our opinion, episodes from his biography, which will allow us to understand how the idea of the scientist’s journey to America, incredible in its results, arose and was so brilliantly realized. Let’s start with childhood so that, let’s be honest, we can surprise the reader a little.
Alexander was not considered a gifted child! Born in 1769 in Berlin, into a high-ranking family, from childhood, as was customary in the highest German society, had numerous venerable teachers, but, despite all their efforts, he was clearly unable to live up to the expectations of his home teachers.
Timid and shy, he developed rather slowly, unable to grasp everything on the fly. The teachers despaired of him and did not believe that he had even mediocre abilities. In addition, the boy was not physically strong and was often sick.
One could, of course, explain Alexander’s poor success with a heavy academic load - he was being prepared for university. But that was obviously not the case. Alexander's elder brother, Wilhelm, who attracted teachers with his ingenuity, openness and liveliness of character, learned the same thing, but with relative ease.
He liked logic and philosophy, the basics of economics - in a word, everything that could eventually help him take a worthy place at the Prussian court. But this is exactly the kind of future their mother dreamed of for her sons... Alexander was interested in completely different things. As a child, he enjoyed collecting pebbles and plants, unconsciously giving preference to the natural sciences.
Such predilections, to put it mildly, were not respected among his family and relatives. Meanwhile, there is a legend that testifies not only to the seriousness of these hobbies, but also to the sensitive pride of young Humboldt.
Once, his arrogant aristocratic aunt, the wife of a chamberlain (a high-ranking court rank), mockingly asked, referring to Alexander’s botanical interests, if he was going to become a pharmacist. To this the eleven-year-old boy replied that it was better to become a pharmacist than to become a chamberlain.
Botany was not the only passion of the “little pharmacist,” as Alexander was called in his childhood. At home he was often found in a room hung with geographical maps. Apparently, even then a “demanding thirst for distance” began to haunt him. Time passed, and the timid shoots of this thirst, appearing from nowhere in the child’s soul, slowly but steadily sprouted...
However, forced studies continued. In 1787, Humboldt, at the insistence of his mother, went to Frankfurt an der Oder to university to study economics, finance and management.
He's bored here; and the level of teaching probably left much to be desired. “If the Queen of Sciences has her own temple somewhere,” Alexander writes home, “then, of course, not in this city.” Therefore, after the first semester, he decides not to return to Frankfurt.
At home in Berlin, satisfying his ever-increasing interest in botany, the young man carefully studies the local nature: he looks for various mosses, lichens and mushrooms, and repeatedly visits botanical garden. At the same time, as if preparing for the future, he learns to draw from life and masters the art of engraving. In the spring of 1789, Humboldt left Berlin again, going to Göttingen for further studies.
Unlike Frankfurt, at the University of Göttingen, where they gave a fairly wide general education, in communication with erudite teachers, Alexander’s rapid intellectual growth began. He studies the Greek language (in the words of Humboldt himself, “the foundation of the foundations of all learning”), higher mathematics, natural history, chemistry, botany, while simultaneously studying philology...
Already in student years one of the the most important qualities our hero - the universality of interests. He was not indifferent to literally everything that concerned the relationship between man and nature. Dreams of long journeys, picturesque landscapes, strange plants and animals excited the student’s imagination...
It was then that Alexander meets a man who, perhaps, finally put an end to Humboldt's intended career as an official. This man was Georg Foster, botanist and zoologist, chemist and physicist, geographer and historian; navigator who accompanied his father, the natural scientist Reinhold Forster, on the second round the world expedition famous James Cook.
Humboldt fell under the spell of this outstanding, versatile and energetic personality. Now his studies have finally become focused. In Hamburg, where Alexander continued his studies at a private trade academy, he tried to constantly communicate with foreigners in order to quickly learn the languages and customs of other countries.
At lectures, he primarily tried to remember information about colonial goods, money circulation, etc. At the same time, he makes excursions, during which he examines fossils - the remains of ancient plants and animals preserved in rocks Oh…
"All truth occurs in the human
mind through three stages: First: “What nonsense!?”
Then: “Is there something to this!?”
Finally: “Who didn’t know this?”
Attributed to Alexander Humboldt
German explorer of South America, founder of botanical geography. younger brother philologist Wilhelm Humboldt .
In 1799 he made an expedition to South America.
“On July 16, 1799, travelers landed on the shores of Venezuela. From the very first steps they were stunned by the beauty and richness of the tropical nature they saw for the first time. The first three days they rushed about, Not able to stop at studying something specific. The impulsive Bonilan swore that he would go mad if these miracles were not exhausted soon. Apparently, the cold, rational Humboldt was no less excited.
On this expedition, which became " finest hour"For Humboldt, the young scientist visited Venezuela, until then closed to non-Spaniards, and spent 4 months on the river. Orinoco and proved its connection with the Amazon. A huge amount of material was collected in Venezuela, he did not stop there and went to Cuba, then returned to the mainland, climbed the river. Magdalena, crossed the mountain pass and went to Kiya. Then he explored the Andes all the way to northern Peru and visited the upper reaches of the Amazon. My attention was paid to the study of volcanoes. Humboldt climbed Chimborasodo to an altitude of 5881 m above sea level and, although he did not reach the crater (the height of the volcano is 6272 m), he still set a record, since no explorer had ever reached such a high point. Humboldt was very proud of this ascent, since at that time Chimborazo was considered the highest peak in the world. […]
Despite the fact that the expedition did not make any territorial discoveries, according to its scientific results, historians rank it among the greatest. It was then that Humboldt tested his method of scientific research, which became a model for 19th-century travel. Scientists brought with them huge collections: only the herbarium consisted of 6 thousand plant specimens, about half of which were unknown to science. Humboldt analyzed the materials obtained by the expedition for about thirty years, and not alone, but with a number of other scientists. At the same time, one should take into account Humboldt’s amazing ability to work: he only needed 4-5 hours of sleep a day, and this regime did not in any way affect his health.”
“Humboldt himself later became one of the discoverers scientific research Earth. He spent many years traveling around South America, Western and Southwestern Siberia, which resulted in discoveries in various areas scientific knowledge: geography, botany, mineralogy. A. Humboldt tried to summarize all the knowledge acquired during his travels and the knowledge that existed before him in his work “Cosmos. Experience of physical description of the world" (1845-1862). In this study, the philosopher set as his goal to know natural phenomena in total and imagine nature as a living whole, driven not by God, but by internal forces. Researchers in the history of philosophy called A. Humboldt's views on the world natural-historical materialism. The views of the materialist philosopher are characterized by the conviction objective reality outside world, laws of nature. The philosopher also spoke about the possibility of knowing nature and its laws.”
Tabachkova E.V., Philosophers, M., “Ripol Classic”, 2002, p. 132.
“We must not forget about the other side scientific activity Humboldt, which had a great influence on the development science XIX century. Humboldt, like many naturalists of the late 18th century, was a spontaneous materialist, but most materialist naturalists of that time adhered to metaphysical and mechanistic views on the development of nature. Humboldt did not view the world as something unchanging - he studied natural phenomena in their interaction and, more importantly, in their evolution. At the end of his life, he expressed these advanced scientific and philosophical views in a huge comprehensive report "Cosmos". This report was especially important the fact that it appeared in the middle of the 19th century, when the modern materialist dialectics of nature began to take shape. Humboldt's scientific productivity was colossal: the number of his works exceeds 700 , and among them there are many voluminous monographs. But Humboldt's influence on scientific world and the progressive circles of his contemporary society were not limited to his printed works. Humboldt often gave scientific and popular science reports and series of lectures and loved communicating with people of all kinds social status. He devoted several hours every day to these meetings, and spoke willingly and in detail about scientific and social problems. His epistolary activity was also great: every day he wrote up to a dozen letters! He also received very extensive mail; so, at the end of his life, on March 15, 1859, he placed an advertisement in newspapers in which he asked to spare him, write to him less and give him the opportunity to work: during this period he received from 1600 to 2000 letters and manuscripts per year.
From the editor in the book: Alexander Humboldt, Travel to the equinoctial regions of the New World in 1799-1804, M., State Publishing House geographical literature", 1963, p. 7-8.
What Humboldt did and what Humboldt's contribution to science and geography you will learn in this article.
What were Humboldt's contributions to science?
Alexander Humboldt discovered what?
The German scientist studied the nature of the countries of Central and South America, Europe, Siberia and the Urals. He is rightfully considered the founder of the geography of vegetation and the doctrine of life forms. He owns the rationale for the idea vertical zoning. Humboldt laid basics of climatology And general geoscience. He described in detail the continental and coastal climates and established the nature of their differences. The multi-volume work “Cosmos” written had a huge impact on the development of comparative method And evolutionary ideas in natural science.
After the death of his mother in 1796, the future scientist received a large inheritance, which he decided to invest in travel. His goal is to understand the physics of the world. First he went to Spain on Iberian Peninsula, where he studied nature. In Castile he was engaged in measuring geographical coordinates and studying mountain rocks, vegetation and climate. As a result, the King of Spain was so impressed by Humboldt's work that he introduced him to Bonpland and allowed him to explore the Spanish colonies in America.
Five years of study became known as second scientific discovery America. Stopping in the Canary Islands, Alexander Humboldt found a research object on the island of Tenerife - Pic de Teide. He found that with altitude, along with climate, there is a natural change in vegetation cover. So Humboldt discovered the law of vertical zoning, which says: when climbing mountains from the tropics to the Arctic, the entire set of latitudinal geographic zones is consistently reproduced.
Having reached South America, the researchers climbed the Silla volcano. In his cave, Alexander Humboldt found a collection of bones of extinct animals. He sent his find to the Parisian paleontologist Georges Cuvier. Meanwhile, having studied the vegetation of the cave, its climate and fauna, traveler became the founder of the new science of speleology.
In 1800 he began exploring the Casiquiare and Orinoco rivers. He noticed that during floods, water from one river basin flows into another. Later this phenomenon will be called a bifurcation. The traveler was the first to map the connection of two basins. During their journey, Bonpland and Humboldt collected samples of rocks and plants, which made it possible to better study the world of South America in laboratory conditions.
Humboldt began to return to Europe throughout South American continent. The campaign lasted 18 months, followed by another 2 months of sailing along the stormy Magdalena River. The scientist first imposed water body onto the map and determined it using astronomical methods geographical coordinates. After rafting down the river, the geographer ended up in Bogota, where he discovered the world's first huge deposit of potassium salt, a deposit coal and a mastodon cemetery. A four-month journey through the Andes brought him to the city of Quito ( modern capital Ecuador). He studied three volcanoes near the city. Here the traveler was reunited with Bonpland. At that time, a record was set - for the first time, people stood so high near glaciers that did not melt under the hot equatorial sun. After studying volcanoes, Alexander Humboldt came to the conclusion that main role It is not the waters of the ocean that play a role in the formation of the relief on the planet, but the processes occurring in the deep interior.
When the scientist went down to Pacific Ocean With snowy peaks And, I was amazed at how cold water in the tropics. That's how it was open cold powerful current , which washed the South American western shores.
In 1804, the expedition sailed to Mexico. Along the way, Humboldt constantly measured the temperature of the air and water as he moved towards the equator and north. For a long time he reflected on the theory of the origin of the current and rejected the version about the influence of Andean glaciers. The scientist formed the idea that they are born in the south polar region. Also summarized the formation of climate on the planet: except geographical latitude it depends on warm and cold currents, the distribution of land and sea, and atmospheric circulation.
In addition to South America, the scientist visited Russia and Asia. On Southern Urals he noticed that the magnetic compass needle was moving randomly. This compass position has been observed in several places. The geographer suggested that in the depths of the mountain there is iron ore. After confirming the assumption, Alexander Humboldt entered the history of science as pioneer of the geophysical method of searching for minerals. After sailing in the Caspian Sea, the scientist took samples of silt and water and gave them to naturalist Christian Ehrenberg, who accompanied him on the expedition. This allowed the latter to begin the first study of the microbiology of the Caspian Sea, thereby laying the foundation for limnology - the science of lakes.
Thanks to Humboldt's research, the foundations were laid scientific basis geomagnetism.
Upon returning home, Alexander Humboldt began processing the collected materials and wrote fundamental works “Geography of Plants”, “Pictures of Nature”, “Space”, “Central Asia”.
We hope that from this article you learned what Humboldt did for geography.
