Alexander von Humboldt

The man of universal interests – his contemporaries called him a ‘new Aristotle’ – was in frequent contact with the intellectual giants of his time. Andreas Daum’s concise introduction to Alexander von Humboldt’s life and work offers an overview of the scientist’s diverse networks. And so, his rich story becomes a mirror of his time, the late eighteenth to the middle of the nineteenth century, with all its dramatic changes.