Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt

Bio

* 1769, Berlin, Germany

† 1859, Berlin, Germany

Career

1787-1792 studies at the universities of Frankfurt an der Oder and Göttingen, and at the academies of commerce in Hamburg and of mining in Freiberg, Saxony; private studies of botany under Willdenow in Berlin; 1790 travel to the Netherlands, England and France with Georg Forster; 1792, after completing his studies, entry into the Prussian mining service; mining leader in the Prussian part of Upper Franconia; foundation of a "free mining school"; 1796 withdrawal from the civil service; from 1797 preparations for a trip to the West Indies and travels to Dresden, Prague, Vienna and Paris; 20 October 1798 departure from Paris with Aimé Bonpland and stay at Madrid where he receives permission to make a research tour through the Spanish colonies; 1799-1804 journey with Bonpland to what is now Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Mexico; return to Paris and from 1805-1807 visits to Rome, Naples, Zurich, Göttingen and Berlin; 1807 diplomatic mission to Paris, where he stayed until 1827 to evaluate his research findings; 1827 return to Berlin; royal chamberlain, adviser on science and art, and from 1842 chancellor of the peace division of the order pour le mérite; 1829 Siberian trip as a guest of the Russian government; honorary doctorates from the universities of Frankfurt an der Oder (1805), Dorpat (1827), Bonn (1828), Tübingen (1845), Prague (1848), and St. Andrews (1853); 1827 honorary president of the Société de Géographie in Paris.

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