The Father of Ecology

On September 14^th, 1769 Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Von Humboldt was born and lived for 90 years until his passing on May 6^th, 1859. Born into a wealthy Prussian aristocratic family, Humboldt was able to fund his explorations through Europe, South America and North America, where he collected numerous amounts of data that has contributed to his findings relating to ecology and biogeography.

Humboldt had three siblings; a sister that died at a young age, an older brother and a half-brother from his mother’s previous marriage. His father, who was an army officer, passed in 1979, leaving Humboldt with his mother at the age of nine.    

Alexander had a private education where he was taught political history, economics, mathematics and other common courses. Although given the opportunity to learn several subjects, Humboldt wasn’t the best student and only studied under strict supervision. Humboldt later studied economics at the university of Frankfurt. After spending a year at the University of Gottingen he became interested in geology and minerology. His experience at Gottingen led to the beginning of his expeditions.

Humboldt didn’t start in the plant industry but started off as a mine inspector in 1792, where he built relationships with miners and eventually funded a school and an emergency relief fund for them. Although Humboldt was a mine inspector that studied finance and economics, he was always interested in plants as one of his hobbies as a child was collecting and labelling different plants and insects. This interest grew with the influence of Karl Ludwig Willdenow, a botanist and one of his many mentors.

Known as the father of ecology, Alexander Von Humboldt, had several influences on what we know as ecology today. One of his biggest expeditions was the Spanish American expedition from 1799 to 1804.

Humboldt spent this expedition characterizing different geological features and collecting both botanical and zoological specimens. His studies in Mount Chimborazo, Ecuador led to his belief that everything in nature was interconnected, as he recognized that organisms have a reciprocal effect on their environment. It was Humboldt that gave rise to biogeography through his cross-continental comparisons and observations throughout his various expeditions.

Humboldt has also influenced several other known figures in ecology such as, Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace and John Muir. To learn more information on Alexander Von Humboldt you can refer to https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-von-Humboldt