Alexander von Humboldt – Remapping Global Perspectives
Apr 29, 2009
A week-long series of events titled Alexander von Humboldt – Remapping Global Perspectives will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Alexander von Humboldt’s death. These events will take place in venues throughout Washington, DC during the first week of May 2009.
A man ahead of his time, Alexander von Humboldt (September 14, 1769 – May 6, 1859) is known throughout the world as a result of his five-year research expedition to the New Continent. In addition to his work as a research explorer, naturalist, and scientist, he is also remembered as an early advocator for human rights and a pioneer in the field of ecology.
Organized by Dr. Frank Holl and the German Embassy in cooperation with the German Historical Institute, the Goethe-Institut, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Associates
Research Explorer Alexander von Humboldt: A New Vision of the World
In this half-day symposium, organized by the Smithsonian Associates in cooperation with the German Embassy, Humboldt scholar Frank Holl will present highlights of the life of this extraordinary researcher and explorer, whose goal was "to examine the interweaving and interacting of all the forces of nature." Humboldt's concept of global thinking and his political and scientific influence in the Americas are among the topics to be addressed.
Alexander von Humboldt – A Man for the 21st Century
The German Historical Institute will host a roundtable discussion with scholars from the US and Germany whose specializations in history, literature, Germanic studies, and science led them to study the work of Humboldt.
Participants include Dr. Ottmar Ette (Institute for Romance Language Studies, University of Potsdam), Dr. Andreas Daum (Department of History, University at Buffalo), and Dr. Kristen Belgum (Germanic Studies Department, University of Texas at Austin). Independent Humboldt scholar Dr. Frank Holl will moderate.
The World Conciousness of Alexander von Humboldt
In this lecture at the Goethe-Institut, Dr. Ottmar Ette, Chair of Romance Literature at the University of Potsdam, will examine how Alexander von Humboldt developed his own concept of Weltbewusstsein (world consciousness) and an empirical grounding for his theories on globalization and scientific and literary concepts.
Mourning, Celebrating, Revisiting: Alexander von Humboldt in the United States, 1859–2009
In this lecture at the Library of Congress, Dr. Andreas Daum, History Professor at the University at Buffalo, will discuss Alexander von Humboldt's influence and legacy in the United States and how Humboldt became a cultural hero during the second half of the 19th century.
Organized by the European Division and the John W. Kluge Center of the Library of Congress, the German Historical Institute, and the German Embassy.
Humboldt's Influence on 19th-Century American Artists
The German Embassy will host two lectures:
Dr. Eleanor Harvey, Chief Curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum, will look at Humboldt’s influence on 19th-century American landscape painters and photographers and how Humboldt’s Cosmos changed the artists' understanding of geological processes.
Dr. Kevin J. Avery, Associate Curator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will illuminate Church’s response to the Humboldt's invocation to artists to represent equatorial America, tracing Church’s 1853 and 1857 journeys along Humboldt’s 1802 route in Ecuador and examining his most famous painting, The Heart of the Andes.
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