As the debate continues as to who’s a “genius” and who isn’t, I decided to re-read a book published two years ago.

In The Invention of Nature, Andrea Wulf has this to say about Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859): He “was 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. He also talked about the impact of trees on the climate through their release of oxygen. The effects of the human species’ intervention were already ‘incalculable,’ Humboldt insisted, and could become catastrophic if they continued to disturb the world so ‘brutally.’ ”

According to Wulf:

o Charles Darwin would not have boarded the Beagile, nor conceived of The Origin of the Species, without Humbodt.
o He shaped John Muir’s ideas of preservation.
o He became friends with Thomas Jefferson after a visit to Washington DC in 1804.
o Thoreau’s Walden would have been a significantly different it not been for Humboldt.
o Simon Bolívar’s revolution in South America was invigorated by Humboldt’s friendship and writing.
o Humboldt was the most famous man in the world after Napoleon, so famous that his ideas and books dozens of other thought leaders worldwide.
o His scientific writing and ideas permeated into literature, including poetry.
o Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo (and Verne) owned a set of Humboldt’s complete works.

Wulf explains each of these in detail within her lively narrative.

The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World was published by Knopf (September 2015).

To learn more about Alexander von Humboldt, please click here.