Humboldt's Nodes and Modes of Interdisciplinary Environmental Science in the Andean World*

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Alexander von Humboldt engaged in a staggering array of diverse experiences in the Andes and adjoining lowlands of northwestern South America between 1801 and 1803. Yet examination of Humboldt's diaries, letters, and published works shows how his principal activities in the Andes centered on three interests: mining and geological landscapes; communications and cartography; and use and distribution of the quinine‐yielding cinchona trees. Each node represented a pragmatic concern dealing with environmental resources in the context of the Andes. To pursue these interests in his Andean field studies, Humboldt relied on varied cultural interactions and vast social networks for knowledge exchange, in addition to extensive textual comparisons. These modes of inquiry dovetailed with his pragmatic interests and his open‐ended intellectual curiosity. Fertile combinations in his Andean studies provided the foundation and main testing ground for Humboldt's fused nature‐culture approach as well as his contributions to early geography and interdisciplinary environmental science.

Observations of a stratospheric aerosol <i>veil</i> from a tropical volcanic eruption in December 1808: is this the <i>Unknown</i> ∼1809 eruption?

“…Together, the accounts suggest that these phenomena were produced by a single low-latitude stratospheric volcanic eruption that occurred in late November or early December 1808. Glick (1991) and others have shown, Caldas and Unanue were leading figures in their respective circles and disciplines (Appel, 1994;Nieto et al, 2005;Nieto Olarte, 2007;Zimmerer, 2006;Cushman, 2011). They shared a profound interest in the varied climates of the territories of their birth, in Unanue's case particularly due to his concern for understanding the impact of climate phenomena on human health (Cushman, 2011).…”

“…This engagement with the science of the day required extensive investigations, for which they drew not only on their own work -as director of the Bogotá Observatory, for instance, Caldas established a regular programme of astronomical and meteorological observations (Caldas, 1912) -but also on that of a wide network of correspondents in towns and cities across modern-day Colombia and Peru. Their significance as scientists (and, in Caldas' case, as collaborator) were acknowledged by Alexander von Humboldt, whose own writings, many based on the results of his travels in Latin America between 1799 and 1804, are widely recognized as contributing to the development of modern geography, ecology and environmental sciences (Glick, 1991;Zimmerer, 2006;Cushman 2011).…”

Challenges and opportunities for biogeography—What can we still learn from von Humboldt?

“…He has also been described as “a practitioner of disunified science and a man with no stable intellectual or political make‐up” (Shapin, ). Yet the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to scientific questions has remained recognized (Daily & Ehrlich, ; Ignaciuk et al, ; Zimmerer, ). Biogeographic research is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on geography, evolution, palaeontology, ecology, biogeomorphology, geology, geomorphology, human geography and atmospheric sciences, amongst others.…”

“…He has also been described as "a practitioner of disunified science and a man with no stable intellectual or political make-up" (Shapin, 2006). Yet the importance of interdisciplinary approaches to scientific questions has remained recognized (Daily & Ehrlich, 1999;Ignaciuk et al, 2012;Zimmerer, 2006a).…”

Alexander Von Humboldt's Image and Influence in North American Geography, 1804–2004

“…Yet another growing domain of poststructuralist scholarship is "science and technology studies." Here Humboldt is seen as a pivotal figure in the advancement of instrumentation and its applications outside laboratory contexts (Zimmerer 2006). Since the 1960s Humboldt has been accorded more than footnotes by historians of the nineteenth-century Atlantic antislavery movement for his lifelong and outspoken condemnation of slavery.…”