Humboldt and the Rediscovery of Nature

Alexander von Humboldt was one Germany's most important explorers and was partly responsible for geography being recognized as empirical science. His research trips have taken him to Latin America, the Unites States and Central Asia, where he has conducted scientific fieldwork in a variety of fields, including physics, chemistry, geology, botany and astronomy. However, it was only recently that his early understanding of environmental issues became a focus of research. On the occasion of the German naturalist's 250th birthday, historian Andrea Wulf takes a breathtaking journey halfway around the world and takes the viewer to the rapids of the Orinoco and to the highest Andean peaks, which shaped Humboldt's new understanding of nature.