Who Was Alexander von Humboldt? | At the Smithsonian | Smithsonian Magazine

Alexander von Humboldt

“Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture,” now on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, reveals how the influential naturalist and explorer shaped American perceptions of nature and the way American cultural identity became grounded in our relationship with the environment.

Highlights

Who Was Alexander von Humboldt?

Smithsonian curator Eleanor Jones Harvey explains why this revolutionary 19th-century thought leader is due for a reconsideration

By Eleanor Jones Harvey

Virtual Travel

Tour the American Art Museum's Humboldt Exhibition

By Alicia Ault

Maps

The Pioneering Maps of Alexander von Humboldt

By Greg Miller

Fossils

The Story of Charles Willson Peale’s Massive Mastodon

By Hans-Dieter Sues

Smithsonian Magazine

How the Revolutionary Thinker Alexander von Humboldt Helped to Create the Smithsonian

By Anne Showalter

Smithsonian Voices

Before There Was Beyoncé, There Was Humboldt

Designing Humboldt: Five Questions With Karen Siatras

A Brush With Nature: Alexander von Humboldt and Frederic Church

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