Currently I am reading a book from Alexander von Humboldt – The Journey to South America. Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt, a German naturalist and explorer, traveled extensively in Latin America, exploring and describing. His way of reporting is often seen as the starting point of modern scientific writing. He actually reported very detailed on all his observations in 21 books, written later in his life. The book I am currently reading is just a short summary of his journey, the executive summary so to speak.
I think being a scientist at that time must have been also very exciting. He was not limited to one subject but looked at everything he happened to pass by. He took detailed notes on fauna, flora, and geographical points of interest. When he started his journey to South America, he was actually planing to go on an expedition to Africa. It took him many weeks to get to Marseille where he planned to board a ship to North Africa. But then, due to technical and political problems, his journey to Africa was postponed and he decided to spend the winter in Spain. There he got the chance to join an expedition to Latin America.…
When reading Alexander von Humboldt’s book, I always start to project his life to that of a modern scientist like me. What would my boss say if I leave for a test beam campaign at CERN and, when returning, report on a bird observation journey to Greenland? I should ask him…
