Humboldt, Alexander von (1769–1859)

Alexander von humboldt (1769–1859), a prussian naturalist and explorer, is one of the founders of modern geography and meteorology. He was born Baron Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt in Berlin, Germany on September 14, 1769 as the youngest of two sons of a Prussian army officer and his wife, Elizabeth de Colomb. He lost his father at a young age and was raised by his mother. Humboldt's mother decided to train him for an administrative post in the civil service. It seemed like a good choice for a boy who was often ill and did not learn easily. Humboldt, however, wanted to enter the army. He did not become interested in the sciences until he was 16 and he wound up almost entirely self-taught. Yet, he spent a year at a college in Frankfort-on-the-Oder and then went to the University of Gottingen in 1788 to study engineering. Humboldt spent a further year studying mining and mineralogy at the School of Mines in Freiberg, Saxony.

After leaving school, Humboldt obtained a job in the Prussian government's Mining Department. He worked in the gold and copper mines in the Fichtel Mountains. He also began experimenting with stimulation of nerves by electrical and chemical means. Humboldt's experiments proved that nerves produced a substance that entered the muscle and triggered movement. He continued these physiological studies by investigating the effects of gases and liquids on living animals. The result was the discovery that breathing will stop if the content of carbon dioxide or hydrocarbonic gases in the air exceeds a certain limit. Upon being offered a promotion to director of mining, Humboldt refused the job to travel and conduct research. Always financially well-off, he did not need to work. In 1798, he crossed Spain while taking measurements. Humboldt found both that existing maps of the country were inaccurate and that the interior of Spain forms a high plateau. Humboldt then received permission to travel to the Spanish colonies in Latin America.