Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was a German naturalist, explorer, and writer. After studying in Frankfurt an der Oder, Göttingen, and Freiberg, he initially worked in the Prussian mining administration. From 1799 to 1804, he travelled through the Spanish colonies in the Americas with Aimé Bonpland. A further research expedition took him through Russia and Siberia in 1829; together with the mineralogist Gustav Rose, he covered around 15,000 kilometres in six months. His best-known works include Views of Nature (1808), the Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, and the multi-volume Cosmos (1845–1862).