We know Audubon,Thoreau, Emerson, Muir and Leopold as some of the great American Naturalists dating back to the 18th Century...........How many of us know Alexander von Humboldt, the man whose contemporaries considered him the most famous man in the world after Napoleon............. Thomas Jefferson called him “one of the greatest ornaments of the age”............... There are more plants, animals, minerals and places named after Humboldt than any other person.............. In California alone, a county, a bay, a college and a state park all bear his name............... He is a founding father of environmentalism, a visionary who predicted man-made climate change as early as 1800.............................At a time when scientists were classifying the world into ever smaller taxonomic units, Humboldt regarded Earth as one great living organism in which everything was connected............. It was a radically new approach, and it makes him a naturalist hero for the 21st century.....Click on link below to read more about Mr. Humboldt and his contributions

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Alexander von Humboldt: The man who made nature modern

 In 1804, Humboldt visited the young United States.  In Philadelphia he was treated warmly by the American Philosophical Society, the leading scientific organization in the country.  They also stayed with President Thomas Jefferson in Washington D.C., a small town still under construction.  Humboldt and Jefferson shared a love of science and had similar political philosophies.  Dolly Madison, wife of then Secretary of State James Madison, said of Humboldt: “We have lately had a great treat in the company of a charming Prussian Baron von Humboldt.  All the ladies say they are in love with him….  He is the most polite, modest, well-informed and interesting traveler we have ever met, and is much pleased with America.”