Search results for ""Humboldt""

The legacy of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) looms large over the natural sciences. His 1799-1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aime Bonpland set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, and inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Church. The chronicles of the expedition were published in Paris after von Humboldt's return, and first among them was the 1807 "Essay on the Geography of Plants." Among the most cited writings in natural history, after the works of Darwin and Wallace, this work appears here for the first time in a complete English-language translation. Covering far more than its title implies, it represents the first articulation of an integrative "science of the earth," encompassing most of today's environmental sciences. Ecologist Stephen T. Jackson introduces the treatise and explains its enduring significance two centuries after its publication.

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The legacy of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) looms large over the natural sciences. His 1799-1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aime Bonpland set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century and inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Frederic Edwin Church. Views of Nature was von Humboldt's best-known and most influential work - and his personal favorite. While the essays that comprise it are themselves remarkable as innovative, early pieces of nature writing - they were cited by Thoreau as a model for his own work - the book's extensive footnotes incorporate some of von Humboldt's most beautiful prose and mature thinking on vegetation structure, its origins in climate patterns, and its implications for the arts. Written for both a literary and scientific audience, Views of Nature was translated into English (twice), Spanish, and French in the nineteenth century, and it was read widely in Europe and the Americas. But in contrast to many of von Humboldt's more technical works, Views of Nature has been unavailable in English for more than one hundred years. Largely neglected in the United States during the twentieth century, von Humboldt's contributions to the humanities and the sciences are now undergoing a revival to which this new translation will be a critical contribution.

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While the influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769 1859) looms large over the natural sciences, his legacy reaches far beyond the field notebooks of naturalists. Von Humboldt's 1799 1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aime Bonpland not only set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, but also served as the raw material for his many volumes works of both scientific rigor and aesthetic beauty that inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Frederic Edwin Church. Views of Nature, or Ansichten der Natur, was von Humboldt's best-known and most influential work and his personal favorite. While the essays that comprise it are themselves remarkable as innovative, early pieces of nature writing they were cited by Thoreau as a model for his own work the book's extensive endnotes incorporate some of von Humboldt's most beautiful prose and mature thinking on vegetation structure, its origins in climate patterns, and its implications for the arts. Written for both a literary and a scientific audience, Views of Nature was translated into English (twice), Spanish, and French in the nineteenth century, and it was read widely in Europe and the Americas. But in contrast to many of von Humboldt's more technical works, Views of Nature has been unavailable in English for more than one hundred years. Largely neglected in the United States during the twentieth century, von Humboldt's contributions to the humanities and the sciences are now undergoing a revival to which this new translation will be a critical contribution.

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'I think it A Work of genius, I think it The Work of a Genius' John CheeverFor many years, the great poet Von Humboldt Fleisher and Charlie Citrine, a young man inflamed with a love for literature, were the best of friends. At the time of his death, however, Humboldt is a failure, and Charlie's life has reached a low point: his career is at a standstill, and he's enmeshed in an acrimonious divorce, infatuated with a highly unsuitable young woman and involved with a neurotic mafioso. And then Humboldt acts from beyond the grave, bestowing upon Charlie an unexpected legacy that may just help him turn his life around.

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The Naga form a minority in Northeast India and the northwest of Myanmar — and consist at the same time of thirty different ethnicities: three to four million people, with numerous languages. How do they manage to preserve their traditional history and integrate into altered ways of life? How do fit that together with modern tattoos, fashion, and social media? What role does Christianity play? Authors among others from Naga Land describe various facets of their contemporary and current culture and make the Naga collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin appear in a new light, supplemented with contemporary objects. The artist Zubeni Lotha shows the life of the Naga today in impressive photographs.

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The Naga form a minority in Northeast India and the northwest of Myanmar — and consist at the same time of thirty different ethnicities: three to four million people, with numerous languages, but no central government structures. How do they manage to preserve their traditional history and integrate into altered ways of life? How do their former practice of headhunting fit together with modern tattoos, fashion, and social media? What role does Christianity play? Authors among others from Naga Land describe various facets of their contemporary and current culture and make the Naga collection of the Ethnological Museum in Berlin appear in a new light, supplemented with contemporary objects. The artist Zubeni Lotha shows the life of the Naga today in impressive photographs.

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Protecting, healing, or punishing—people of various eras and origins have attributed such powers to the sculptures that are being presented together here for the first time: be it the sculpture of the Mangaaka from what is today the Republic of Congo, the protective goddess Mahamayuri from China, or the Maria on the globe from Southern Germany. Forty-five objects created between the fourth and the nineteenth century from two museums in Berlin provide a vivid testimony to the ever-present need for protection and orientation when dealing with individual or social crises. They represent the existence of an invisible world of gods, spirits, or ancestors, and create a connection between this world and a "different reality." As a result of how they are presented in museums, their context of use is, however, often lost—a situation that is reflected on by the authors of this book.

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Francis La Flesche (1857–1932) lived between two worlds: as an Umoⁿhoⁿ (Omaha), he fought for their rights, and as a scholar he researched his own culture. He is regarded as the first indigenous ethnologist of North America and stands representatively for the many indigenous protagonists without whom ethnological collections would never have come into being. We are no longer familiar with most of these individuals, since the focus until today has been on European and North American collectors. Francis La Flesche is an exception: his work provides insights into indigenous agency and their resistance to racism and colonialism as well as their active participation in the trade with objects. The book presents La Flesche’s records of the objects, the collection of which he contributed to what is today the Ethnological Museum in Berlin in 1894—an impressive testimony to his successful efforts to preserve the culture of the Omaha for future generations.

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Beschützen, heilen oder bestrafen – diese Kräfte schrieben Menschen verschiedener Zeiten und Herkünfte den Bildwerken zu, die hier zum ersten Mal gemeinsam vorgestellt werden: sei es die Skulptur des Mangaaka aus der heutigen Republik Kongo, die Schutzgöttin Mahamayuri aus China oder die Maria auf der Weltkugel aus Süddeutschland. 45 Objekte aus zwei Berliner Museen, entstanden zwischen dem 4. und 19. Jahrhundert, vermitteln ein lebendiges Zeugnis der allgegenwärtigen Bedürfnisse nach Schutz und Orientierung bei der Bewältigung individueller oder gesellschaftlicher Krisen. Sie stehen für die Existenz einer nicht-sichtbaren Welt von Göttern, Geistern oder Ahnen und schufen eine Verbindung zwischen dem Diesseits und einer „anderen Wirklichkeit". Durch ihre museale Präsentation ist ihr Gebrauchszusammenhang oftmals verlorengegangen – ein Umstand, der von den Autor/-innen dieses Buches kritisch reflektiert wird.

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Francis La Flesche (1857–1932) lebte zwischen zwei Welten: Als Umoⁿhoⁿ (Omaha) kämpfte er für deren Rechte, als Wissenschaftler erforschte er seine eigene Kultur. Er gilt als erster indigener Ethnologe Nordamerikas und steht stellvertretend für die vielen indigenen Akteur/-innen, ohne die ethnologische Sammlungen niemals entstanden wären. Die meisten dieser Personen sind uns nicht mehr bekannt, denn im Zentrum stehen bis heute die europäischen und nordamerikanischen Sammler. Francis La Flesche bildet eine Ausnahme: Seine Arbeit gibt einen Einblick in indigene Handlungsmacht und deren Widerstand gegen Rassismus und Kolonialismus sowie die aktive Teilhabe am Handel mit Objekten. Das Buch präsentiert zum ersten Mal La Flesches Aufzeichnungen über die Gegenstände, die er der 1894 ins heutige Ethnologische Museum nach Berlin gesandten Sammlung beigab – ein beeindruckendes Zeugnis seiner erfolgreichen Bemühungen, die Kultur der Omaha für künftige Generationen zu bewahren.

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Esta edición, preparada por Pilar Mancebo Pérez, reúne en un único volumen diferentes trabajos de Wilhelm von Humboldt, escritos en distintas etapas de su vida ?de 1792 es el más temprano, de 1835, ya al final de sus días, el más tardío?.Todos ellos están recorridos por una idea común, la humanitas, vocación universalista en virtud de la cual la individualidad, el lenguaje o el concepto de nación no quedan recogidos sobre sí mismos, autonomizados en su validez y, también, en su potencialidad conflictiva.Asuntos tales como la formación (Bildung), el origen del hombre, el carácter de los griegos o, en un plano más político, la necesaria limitación de las atribuciones del Estado y la organización de los sistemas de instrucción, se encuentran todos ellos tamizados, en la filosofía de Humboldt, por la universalidad de la comprensión, presupuesto irrenunciable de la hermenéutica que le permite conjurar cierta deriva del romanticismo y de sus siniestros herederos.Humboldt califica

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En el 250 aniversario del nacimiento de Alexander von Humboldt, la colección Hojas en la hierba de la editorial Relee ha querido rendir un homenaje al científico y explorador prusiano recreando sus andanzas por la España de 1799. De todos sus viajes, este es el menos documentado por la falta de un diario como los que escribió a partir del momento que se embarcó en A Coruña hacia América. Para recrear su diario, hemos contado con los inestimables conocimientos del biólogo e historiador de la ciencia Miguel Ángel Puig-Samper, uno de los mayores expertos en Humboldt, quien para esta recreación del viaje del explorador prusiano, este Paseo, ha empleado material de archivo procedente de sus investigaciones, los diarios manuscritos del propio Humboldt, su correspondencia, sus publicaciones, el diario de su hermano Wilhelm en su viaje por España, las cartas de su cuñada Carolina, algunas cartas de Bonpland y su diario botánico, así como los relatos de otros viajeros de la época. Con todo ello

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Der Gelehrte Alexander von Humboldt gehört gleich Goethe zu den Größen einer Zeit, die im geistigen Austausch mittels kürzerer oder längerer Briefe ihre Ideen und Projekte, Gedanken und Gefühle transportierten. Derartige Quellen sind von höchster Anschaulichkeit und großer Lebendigkeit. Fast 150 Briefe Humboldts an den Bildhauer Christian Daniel Rauch, der – beispielsweise durch das Reiterstandbild Friedrichs des Großen Unter den Linden – in Berlin allgegenwärtig ist, werden hier erstmals veröffentlicht und fachkundig kommentiert. In den zwischen 1807 und 1857 geschriebenen Briefen entsteht ein höchst facettenreicher Einblick in die Welt zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft, Bürgertum und Hof, Frankreich und Deutschland, zwischen zwei engen Freunden. So schrieb Humboldt 1836 an Rauch: 'Sie, verehrter Freund, sind seit meines Bruders Tod mir die erfreulichste, anmutigste Erscheinung in dieser mir verödeten Welt.'

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This volume is a collection of essays on various notions of the human state during the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment period in Germany. The book includes articles on Madame de Stael, Herder and India, Kant and race, Nicholas von Zinzendorf, Lichtenberg, the Brothers Grimm, and Humboldt.

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This book enquires into the counter-hegemonic capacity of international criminal justice. It highlights perspectives and themes that have thus far often been neglected in the scholarship on (critical approaches to) international criminal justice.Can international criminal justice be viewed as a ‘counter-hegemonic’ project? And if so, under what conditions? In response to these questions, scholars and practitioners from the Global South and North reflect inter alia on the engagement with international criminal justice in the context of Ukraine, Palestine, and minorities in South-Asia while also highlighting the hegemonic tendencies built into the institutional structure of the International Criminal Court on the axes of gender and language. Florian Jeßberger is Professor of Criminal Law and Director of the Franz von Liszt Institute for International Criminal Justice, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Leonie Steinl is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. Kalika Mehta is an Associate Researcher at the Franz von Liszt Institute for International Criminal Justice, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany.

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Linguistic Variability and Intellectual Development, Wilhelm von Humbolt's most famous work, was published by his brother Alexander posthumously, in 1836. It promptly established itself as a classic in the philosophy of language and has held that position ever since. With many examples from a vast multitude of languages, from Sanskrit to Delaware Indian, the author shows how character and structure of a language expresses the inner life and knowledge of its speakers and how their intellectual development is in turn shaped by their language.

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The reconstructed Berliner Schloss in the heart of the German capital is both a monument of Baroque architecture and a vital new cultural building in the city. The art history, architecture and sculpture of the palace’s masterful façades by Andreas Schlüter are brought to life here in words and pictures. The Berliner Schloss marks the reinstatement of the point of reference for the urban plan of the historical centre of the capital: through the Baroque masterpiece by Andreas Schlüter the boulevard Unter den Linden and the historic buildings of the Lustgarten acquire once more a meaningful interconnection. Most of the authors are involved in this major project. They explain with the help of the impressive photographs by Leo Seidel the fascinating construction process, the imagery of the Baroque sandstone façade, the technology and the craftsmanship behind its reconstruction as well as the architectural concept of the building.

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Master historian David McCullough’s classic book about some of history’s most daring and accomplished figures from Alexander von Humboldt to Charles and Anne Lindbergh.Pulitzer Prize–winning author David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women who shaped the course of history and changed how we see the world. Their remarkable stories express much that is timeless about the human condition. Here are Alexander von Humboldt, whose epic explorations of South America surpassed in scope the Lewis and Clark expedition; Harriet Beecher Stowe, “the little woman who made the big war”; Western artist Frederic Remington; the extraordinary Louis Agassiz of Harvard; Charles and Anne Lindbergh, and their fellow long-distance pilots Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Beryl Markham; Harry Caudill, the Kentucky lawyer who awakened the nation to the tragedy of Appalachia; and David Plowden, a contemporary photographer of vanishing America. Different as they are from each other, McCullough’s subjects have in common a rare vitality and sense of purpose. These are brave companions: to each other, to David McCullough, and to the reader, for with rare storytelling ability McCullough brings us into the times they knew and their very uncommon lives.

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The story of the “American Mediterranean,” both an idea and a shorthand popularized by geographers, historians, novelists, and travel writers from the early nineteenth century to the 1970s. The naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, visiting the Gulf-Caribbean in the early nineteenth century, called it America’s Mediterranean. Almost a century later, Southern California was hailed as “Our Mediterranean, Our Italy!” Although “American Mediterranean” is not a household phrase in the United States today, it once circulated widely in French, Spanish, and English as a term of art and folk idiom. In this book, Susan Gillman asks what cultural work is done by this kind of unsystematic, open-ended comparative thinking.American Mediterraneans tracks two centuries of this geohistorical concept, from Humboldt in the early 1800s, to writers of the 1890s reflecting on the Pacific world of the California coast, to writers of the 1930s and 40s speculating on the political past and future of the Caribbean. Following the term through its travels across disciplines and borders, American Mediterraneans reveals a little-known racialized history, one that paradoxically appealed to a range of race-neutral ideas and ideals.

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The story of the “American Mediterranean,” both an idea and a shorthand popularized by geographers, historians, novelists, and travel writers from the early nineteenth century to the 1970s. The naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, visiting the Gulf-Caribbean in the early nineteenth century, called it America’s Mediterranean. Almost a century later, Southern California was hailed as “Our Mediterranean, Our Italy!” Although “American Mediterranean” is not a household phrase in the United States today, it once circulated widely in French, Spanish, and English as a term of art and folk idiom. In this book, Susan Gillman asks what cultural work is done by this kind of unsystematic, open-ended comparative thinking.American Mediterraneans tracks two centuries of this geohistorical concept, from Humboldt in the early 1800s, to writers of the 1890s reflecting on the Pacific world of the California coast, to writers of the 1930s and 40s speculating on the political past and future of the Caribbean. Following the term through its travels across disciplines and borders, American Mediterraneans reveals a little-known racialized history, one that paradoxically appealed to a range of race-neutral ideas and ideals.

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This remarkable volume presents a panorama of geographical writings from Hesiod to Humboldt, from the beginnings of geographical thought in the Western world to the emergence of topical specialization. It includes a wealth of material from non-Western sources, particularly Moslem and Chinese, that has not been collected before.The selections are arranged chronologically, and contain geographical theory, descriptions of terrestrial phenomena by early observers, and excerpts from major voyages of discovery. Some are obvious classics: Socrates on the nature of the Earth, Ezekiel’s description of the commerce of Tyre, Columbus’s first glimpse of the West Indies, Buffon on the history of the Earth, and Kant’s geographical lectures. Yet more commonly, George Kish provides a sense of the discovery with such finds as the ambassador’s report to the Caliph of Baghdad on the lands and customs of the Norsemen, the study of the Tartar Empire by John of Monte Corvino, Archbishop of Peking, and Jefferson’s private memo to Alexander von Humboldt seeking information on the American West.Each section is highlighted by a brief but engagingly written introduction by the editor. Throughout, the unique cultural and professional perspective of Kish is very much in evidence.

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La historia de la humanidad está llena de personas valientes que se plantearon cosas inalcanzables para el resto: intrépidos viajeros que recorrieron caminos inexplorados como Marco Polo; grandes conquistadores que descubrieron nuevos mundos, como Colón, osados marineros que dieron la vueltas al globo como Magallanes y Elcano; sabios científicos en busca de conocimientos lejanos como von Humboldt o Darwin, atrevidos exploradores como el doctor Livingstone.

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From Alexander von Humboldt to Charles and Anne Lindbergh, these are stories of people of great vision and daring whose achievements continue to inspire us today, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough.The bestselling author of Truman and John Adams, David McCullough has written profiles of exceptional men and women past and present who have not only shaped the course of history or changed how we see the world but whose stories express much that is timeless about the human condition. Here are Alexander von Humboldt, whose epic explorations of South America surpassed the Lewis and Clark expedition; Harriet Beecher Stowe, “the little woman who made the big war”; Frederic Remington; the extraordinary Louis Agassiz of Harvard; Charles and Anne Lindbergh, and their fellow long-distance pilots Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Beryl Markham; Harry Caudill, the Kentucky lawyer who awakened the nation to the tragedy of Appalachia; and David Plowden, a present-day photographer of vanishing America. Different as they are from each other, McCullough’s subjects have in common a rare vitality and sense of purpose. These are brave companions: to each other, to David McCullough, and to the reader, for with rare storytelling ability McCullough brings us into the times they knew and their very uncommon lives.

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Measuring the World recreates the parallel but contrasting lives of two geniuses of the German Enlightenment - the naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt and the mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss. Towards the end of the 18th century, these two brilliant young Germans set out to measure the world. Humboldt, a Prussian aristocrat schooled for greatness, negotiates savannah and jungle, climbs the highest mountain then known to man, counts head lice on the heads of the natives, and explores every hole in the ground. Gauss, a man born in poverty who will be recognised as the greatest mathematician since Newton, does not even need to leave his home in Göttingen to know that space is curved. He can run prime numbers in his head, cannot imagine a life without women and yet jumps out of bed on his wedding night to jot down a mathematical formula. Measuring the World is a novel of rare charm and readability, distinguished by its sly humour and unforgettable characterization. It brings the two eccentric geniuses to life, their longings and their weaknesses, their balancing act between loneliness and love, absurdity and greatness, failure and success.

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