The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World

Andrea Wulf takes us on a voyage in the footsteps of Alexander von Humboldt

The visionary German naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was daringly adventurous but also created the way we understand nature today. Though almost forgotten today, more things are named after him than anyone else. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast and there’s a penguin, a giant squid – even the mare Humboldtianum on the moon. Humboldt was the most famous scientist of his age. Perceiving nature as an interconnected global force, Humboldt discovered similarities between climate zones across the world and predicted human-induced climate change. He turned scientific observation into poetic narrative, and his writings inspired poets such Wordsworth and Goethe but also politicians such as Jefferson. Darwin would have not boarded the Beagle without Humboldt, and it was Humboldt’s influence that shaped Thoreau’s Walden. Drawing on the research for her new book The Invention of Nature, Andrea Wulf, 2013 Eccles British Library Writer in Residence,will take us on a fantastic voyage in his footsteps – across the highest peaks of the Andes and along tropical rivers alive with crocodiles, showing us why his life and ideas remain so important today. She traces Humboldt’s influences through the great minds he inspired in revolution, evolution, ecology, conservation, art and literature. Wulf brings this lost hero to science and the forgotten father of environmentalism back to life.

The talk will be followed by a wine reception and book signing.

Sponsored by the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in collaboration with the American Museum in Britain.