Am I the only one who hasn't heard of Alexander von Humboldt?

[catherine]

During the course of one of my internet bunny trails, I came across a book called The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf. I picked it up on Kindle and it has sat languishing awaiting its turn for my attention. So today was the day I decided to at least read the prologue. It was fascinating.

I know about many, many environmental/conservation mavericks, such as Arne Naess, Aldo Leopold, Audubon, Muir, Rachel Carson, Edward Abbey, but until this morning I had never heard of von Humboldt! He was a polymath and seems to have been a superman of scientific inquiry and discovery, coupled with an almost spiritual sense of the importance of the web of nature. His travels and adventures in the 1800s was indefatigable, and his books were very, very popular on at least three continents. He discovered scientific concepts and terms to describe natural systems, and he was an abolitionist and advocate for indigenous communities. He actually observed and described climate change brought on by clear-cutting of forests for South American plantations. He influenced Thoreau and Darwin and countless others. When he died there were huge memorial celebrations all through North and South America and Europe.

Why don't people talk about him? Why didn't I know about him? Am I the only one?

[Teacher Terry]

I have never heard of him either.

[catherine]

I have never heard of him either.

You in particular, Terry, would be interested in knowing that they almost named Nevada "Humboldt" in honor of him. As it is, Humboldt County and the Humboldt River were named after him.

[Teacher Terry]

That’s interesting Catherine.

[Yppej]

I heard of him.

[iris lilies]

I have not heard of them. Is that where all the “Humboldt” Towns and counties come from?

[bae]

Off the top of my head:

Humboldt Current
Humboldt Penguin, Humboldt Squid, Humboldt's Hummingbird
Humboldt Bay, Humboldt Peak, Humboldt River, Humboldt Peak

[catherine]

Here's the list, according to Wikipedia:


The following places are named for Humboldt:

Hacienda Humboldt, Chihuahua, Mexico
Humboldt, South Dakota, United States
Humboldt, Nebraska, United States
Humboldt, Illinois, United States
Humboldt, Iowa, United States
Humboldt, Tennessee, United States
Humboldt, Kansas, United States
Humboldt, Minnesota, United States
Humboldt, Arizona, United States
Humboldt County, California, United States
Fort Humboldt State Historic Park, Eureka, California, United States
Humboldt County, Nevada, United States
Humboldt County, Iowa, United States
Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada
Humboldt Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States
Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, Cuba
Alexander von Humboldt National Forest, Peru
Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Nevada & California, United States
Humboldt Park, Buffalo, New York, United States
Humboldt Parkway, Buffalo, New York, United States

[catherine]

To bae's point, here are species named after him:

Spheniscus humboldti – Humboldt penguin
Dosidicus gigas – Humboldt squid
Lilium humboldtii – Humboldt's lily
Phragmipedium humboldtii – an orchid
Quercus humboldtii – South American (Andean) oak
Conepatus humboldtii – Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk
Annona humboldtii – Neotropical fruit tree or shrub
Utricularia humboldtii – a bladderwort
Geranium humboldtii – a cranesbill
Salix humboldtiana – a South-American willow[235]
Inia geoffrensis humboldtiana – Amazon river dolphin subspecies of Orinoco River basin
Rhinocoryne humboldti – marine snail
Bathybembix humboldti – marine snail
Rhinella humboldti – Rivero's toad
Pteroglossus humboldti – Humboldt's Araçari
Hylocharis humboldtii – Humboldt's hummingbird
Casignethus humboldti – beetle
Elzunia humboldt – butterfly
†Lenisambulatrix humboldti – Cambrian Lobopodia
Squamulea humboldtiana – lichen[236]

And geographic features:

Geographical features named after Humboldt[edit]

Humboldt Bay – Bay in Northern California, United States
Humboldt Current – off the west coast of South America
Humboldt Glacier – in North West Greenland
Humboldt River and Humboldt Lake – Nevada, United States[238]
Humboldt Peak (Colorado) – 4,287 m mountain in Custer County, Colorado, United States
Pico Humboldt – 4,940 m mountain in Mérida, Venezuela
Humboldt Sink – Dry lake bed in Nevada, United States
East and West Humboldt Range in Nevada, United States
Sima Humboldt – sinkhole in Venezuela
"Monumento Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt" at Caripe, Venezuela
Mount Humboldt – 1,617 m (5,308 ft), New Caledonia
Humboldt Mountains, Antarctic mountains discovered and mapped by the Third German Antarctic Expedition (1938–1939)
Humboldt Mountains – Mountain Range in Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Humboldt Channel – natural waterway through the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Humboldt Falls – 275 m Waterfall in Lower Hollyford Valley, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Humboldt Redwoods State Park – in northern California, United States

[iris lilies]

DH is from Humboldt Iowa.

[catherine]

DH is from Humboldt Iowa.

Wow! Does he know who von Humboldt is?

[Rogar]

I read the same book. My Amazon purchase history shows 2016, so it could be a valid reason for not recalling details and an excuse to do a review.

[bae]

Is the book good?

[iris lilies]

Wow! Does he know who von Humboldt is?

yep, I just asked him “ There is a Humboldt in every state “he said.

[Tybee]

And he'd never heard of him?

[iris lilies]

And he'd never heard of him?
DH has heard of this Humboldt fellow.

[Rogar]

Is the book good?

My lingering impressions were pretty good, but possibly not great. It's been a while. It has good reviews.

[KayLR]

I have never heard of him, but have heard of the penguins and some of the geographical features. Interesting!

[catherine]

Is the book good?

I'm only about 25% into it. My review so far is, it's a very easy read--any high schooler moderately interested in the subject matter could do it. I think the insights are deceptively simple. For instance: when the author connects the overuse of timber as the main source of energy in 19th century South America with potential ecological disaster--you connect the dots with our reaction to fossil fuels today--but OTOH, so where is the energy for humans supposed to come from? If not timber, if not fossil fuels, do we celebrate or demonize sun and wind power? Or do we simply demonize our demand for energy consumption at a higher level? Can we consume less??

My reaction to the story of his life is similar to my reaction to the lives illustrated in books like McCullough's "1776"--there were a certain subset of people who, throughout history, were SO brave without knowing how brave they were. They make me ashamed for my frequent decisions to sit inside on a cold day only because it would mean I have to "suit up" for the weather, and 'nah, I'd rather not.'.

We don't know what we're capable of... that's my premature takeaway of this book... but beyond that, I am so grateful to von Humboldt for what he has done to advance the heart/mind paradigm of science and emotion with regards to nature--and the importance of recognizing how interrelated all life forms--organic and inorganic--are.