Episode 29: Alexander von Humboldt & the Order of Nature

In this Episode, I introduce the life and work of a forgotten hero of science: Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). In his own time he was such a famous explorer and discoverer that many of his contemporaries were influenced by his thinking, most notably Charles Darwin. And even though he is no longer as well known as Darwin today , many places, species, mountains and rivers are still named after him. He took a global approach to Nature, treating Nature as an interrelated whole, in which everything is in flux. He became the first ecologist who truly understood the importance of the environment and its influence on life. He approached Nature as a living organism. Politically, he was inspired by the ideals of the French revolution, which made him an opponent of colonialism and slavery. Literature:Andrea Wulf: The Invention of Nature (2015; a magnificent biography, on which this episode is based) Friedel Weinert: The Scientist as Philosopher (2004: Ch. I.2 in which I explain the emergence of this notion of nature)Websites:https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/alexander-humboldt https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Humboldt