Der Humboldt-Effekt: Vermittlung und Verdrängung der Wissenschaften

Abstract

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) published hundreds of essays and articles in journals and newspapers on five continents, making a considerable impact and influencing contemporary scientists and writers from Goethe and Darwin to Gabriel García Márquez and Daniel Kehlmann. These diverse writings were not collected and edited until 2019, on the occasion of his 250th birthday. They show Humboldt as a master of minor genres, an international and multilingual author, an early post-disciplinary researcher and a subtle autobiographical writer, a public intellectual and a post-colonial critic. They include studies on indigenous American peoples, the migration of plants and the politics of epidemiology. Paradoxically, the success of Humboldt’s public communication generated a mythology that eclipsed the reception of his research.