When in Germany, Do as the Germans Do by Hyde Flippo

Author:Hyde Flippo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
Published: 2018-07-03T16:00:00+00:00

Related Web links: bundestag.de—German parliament (E, G); bundesregierung.de—German government (E, G)

Norman Foster’s new glass dome atop the Reichstag is open to the public.

Alexander von Humboldt, the Famous German You’ve Never Heard Of

In the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was as famous as Einstein was in the 20th century. News of his death on May 6, 1859, traveled around the world (slowly in those days) and saddened not only Germans (Prussians) but also people from Moscow to Buenos Aires.

The Prussian naturalist was born in Berlin. He would also die there almost 90 years later. Between his birth and death, Humboldt had trekked across much of the globe in a lifelong quest to answer questions about the geography, flora and fauna, and minerals on several continents. Though Humboldt the man is virtually unknown in the non–German-speaking world, Alexander von Humboldt’s name is still very much with us.

The Humboldt penguin and Humboldt’s lily (Lilium humboldtii) are just two examples of hundreds of animal and plant species bearing his name. Beyond our planet, the Humboldt crater and Mare Humboldtianum grace the moon, while the asteroid 54 Alexandra orbits the sun. One of the proposed names for a new U.S. western state was Humboldt, but it became Nevada instead. However, in Nevada today you will find Humboldt County (also in three other states), the Humboldt River, and the Humboldt Sink. There are Humboldt ranges in China, South Africa, and Antarctica. Humboldt Peak is found in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. The Humboldt Current in the Pacific Ocean flows northward along the western coast of South America.

Alexander von Humboldt’s major, multivolume opus Cosmos was only partially completed before his death, but it could never have been written without the naturalist’s adventurous, Indiana Jones–style scientific expeditions in Cuba, Mexico, the jungles of South America, and later in Russia’s Siberian wilderness—all at a time when travel was far slower and much more dangerous and difficult than it is today.

On his way back to Europe from his South American expedition (1799–1804) with French botanist and physician Aimé Bonpland, Humboldt made a major detour via Washington D.C., the new capital of the United States of America. The explorer spent 6 weeks sharing information with the U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, and other noted Americans. Having just completed the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson was particularly grateful for Humboldt’s detailed information concerning the new territory’s border with New Spain (Mexico). They also eagerly discussed many other matters, but there was one topic Humboldt avoided discussing with the president: slavery. Jefferson was a slaveowner and Humboldt was very much opposed to any kind of slavery.

Unlike his older brother Wilhelm von Humboldt, a noted linguist, diplomat, and the founder of Berlin’s first university, Alexander never married and preferred Paris over Berlin. But his scientific efforts helped make us more aware of the natural world and its vital forces.

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