He also talked about the impact of trees on the climate through their release of oxygen.” Humboldt was, as Wulf documents, “the first to explain the fundamental functions of the forest for the ecosystem and climate: the trees’ ability to store water and to enrich the atmosphere with moisture, their protection of the soil, and their cooling effect. Today we refer to this principle of interconnectedness as ecology. A naturalist, geographer, and explorer, he believed that nature was a web of life. In The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, biographer Andrea Wulf provides an intimate view of a man who spent a lifetime sharing what he learned with the scientific community and the general public.Īlexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), born in Berlin, was a sickly child who grew up to be an intrepid explorer and the most famous scientist of his age.
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