Born in 1769 into an aristocratic family in Berlin, Alexander von Humboldt was one of the most influential scientists and explorers of the nineteenth century, renowned for his work in geography, natural history, meteorology, and ecology. After first studying at the Universities of Frankfurt on the Oder and at Göttingen, he intended to pursue a career in public service, and upon graduating became a mining inspector in the Prussian administration and conducted scientific studies on mining safety, plant physiology, and geology. He traveled widely through Europe, spent time in Jena, and became friends and collaborated with Goethe and Schiller. In 1796 he resigned from his position to pursue a life of scientific discovery. For five years he explored Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Cuba, and Mexico, making scientific observations and contributions, collecting and cataloging over 60,000 plant specimens, many with medicinal properties, and discovering about 3,600 new species.

In 1804 he visited the United States, meeting Thomas Jefferson at the White House and Benjamin Rush in Philadelphia. After returning to Europe that same year, he published his works, which established him as one of the most important scientific thinkers of his time. In his comprehensive multi-volume work, Kosmos, he covered all scientific knowledge known at the time, ranging from astronomy and meteorology to geology, geography, and botany. In 1829, he visited Imperial Russia and conducted an expedition into Siberia. His influence was immense, and he met many of the great scientists, politicians, and artists of the nineteenth century such as Simon Bolivar, the explorer Joseph Banks, Henry Thoreau, and Charles Darwin. He vehemently opposed slavery, received numerous honors, and now has twenty-one species of plants and animals named after him as well as almost forty geographical places, towns, districts (including Humboldt Park in Chicago), and several schools and universities, notably the famous university on the Unter den Linden in Berlin.

Although he was not a physician, his contributions to medicine were substantial. His expeditions in South America allowed him to study the effects of high altitude on sleep patterns, on the heart and respiratory system, on acclimatization, and also on the occurrence of certain diseases depending on humidity and temperature. He studied the spread of malaria and of yellow fever and the role of mosquitoes as vectors for disease. He conducted one of the earliest systematic studies on the geographic distribution of goiter and noted its higher prevalence in certain mountainous regions. Inspired by Luigi Galvani’s work, he conducted extensive experiments on animal electricity and on the effects of electrical stimulation on muscle contraction in various animals and even in his own body. By noting connections between poor sanitation and disease outbreaks, he contributed to early public health concepts. His analysis of the composition of air at different altitudes and in various locations, and of its effects on human and animal respiration, was groundbreaking. He studied the pharmacology of drugs, especially the treatment of malaria with quinine, investigated the effects of curare, recognized the importance of atmospheric pressure and temperature variations on the human body, and stressed the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to gain a comprehensive understanding of human health. He had a profound influence on Rudolf Virchow and Louis Pasteur. Combining insights from botany, geography, physics, and anthropology was revolutionary, and his holistic view of nature and its impact on human health laid the groundwork for environmental health, medical geography, and global health studies. He is remembered as one of the great intellectual giants of science.