Alexander Von Humboldt Ascholar of great versatility, an explorer and a naturalist

• travelled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing it from a scientific point of view
• contributed to the fields of geology, botany, zoology and climatology
• sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge
• studies various mountain ranges, deserts and forests on his field expedition
• collected geographical and biological data over years and traced the relationships between them
• first person to develop the idea that weather patterns, geology and biology all played a part in determining which plants were capable of thriving in which areas (plant adaptation)
• his work in the field of botany and geography laid the foundation for the science of biogeography
• developed the positive relations between forests and rainfall
• first isothermal map owed to his expedition to Siberia
• coined the term ‘permafrost’ to explain the frozen characteristics of Siberia
• developed the idea of ‘continentality’
• was the first person to describe the phenomenon and cause of human-induced climate change
• he was one to propose that the lands bordering the Atlantic Ocean were once joined
• his advocacy of systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geography
• resurrected the use of the word cosmos, motivated a holistic perception of universe as an interacting
  entity