When I encountered a statue of Alexander von Humboldt in my local park and the plaque read "In honor of the most accomplished traveller of this or any other age", I knew I had to learn more about his life



Humboldt statue in Tower Grove Park



It turns out, there is a fantastic, award winning book about Humboldt: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World by Andrea Wulf.



This is what I learned from Alexander von Humboldt



Amazing things about Humboldt:



* Humboldt was friends with Thomas Jefferson and Goethe and second in fame only to Napoleon in his day* Humboldt was the first person to describe many of the phenomenon of biology and ecology - it pervades out understanding of nature today * He was the first person to climb over 20000 ft* Was the first scientific explorer to do an expedition to South America* Was one of the first scientist to speak out against slavery by the East India company* Invited by the Czar of Russia to explore Siberia where he discovered diamonds* Related to the Prussian Royal family* Humboldt has more things named after him around the world than anyone else