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INSIGHTS

PERSPECTIVES

ESSAY

Humboldt for the Anthropocene
Humboldt’s fusion of science and humanism can address contemporary challenges

By Stephen T. Jackson

T
he ecology and environment of moun-

tains are closely associated with Alex-

ander von Humboldt, born in Prussia 

250 years ago this month. His 1807 

environmental profile of Chimborazo 

(1), the highest peak in the equatorial 

Andes, is iconic (2, 3). He later aligned it with 

similar mountain profiles to show the envi-

ronmental and ecological parallels between 

elevation and latitude (4). Although moun-

tains, climate, and vegetation were central 

themes in Humboldt’s thinking for six de-

cades (1, 5–7), his scientific contributions and 

intellectual vision extended far beyond those 

relationships, spanning nearly all the natural 

sciences and extending deeply into the social 

sciences and humanities. Indeed, virtually 

every part of the Earth, environmental, and 

geographic sciences stands on foundations 

established or inspired by Humboldt.

Humboldt’s contributions owed much to 

his skillful navigation between the opposing 

poles of breadth and depth, between minute 

particulars and far-reaching patterns, and be-

tween general theory and brute-force observa-

tion. His grounding in the physical, chemical, 

mathematical, and astronomical sciences 

imparted an appreciation for universal laws. 

But his wide-ranging curiosity, keen obser-

vational abilities, and early experience as a 

botanist and geologist led Humboldt to rec-

ognize that the world is diverse and complex, 

and that the details and deviations are im-

portant, both intellectually and aesthetically. 

Humboldt’s insight that spatially and tem-

porally referenced observations—whether of 

species occurrences, air temperature, ocean 

salinity, or strength and direction of Earth’s 

magnetic field—could be aggregated to iden-

tify regional to global patterns (which in turn 

would reveal relationships and mechanisms) 

is now a core principle of the Earth and en-

vironmental sciences (1–3, 8). Humboldt rec-

ognized that theories to explain Earth and 

its inhabitants, including humans, would 

necessarily be laden with contingencies 

arising from spatial irregularities, historical 

events, and complex interactions, but he was 

confident that broad principles were, ulti-

mately, attainable.

Much of Humboldt’s understanding de-

rived directly from systematic measurements 

sciencemag.org  S C I E N C E1 0 74     13 SEP TEMBER 2019 • VOL 365 ISSUE 6458

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S C I E N C E   sciencemag.org

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and observations made during his travels in 

Europe, his voyage to the New World with 

French botanist Aimé Bonpland (1799–1804), 

and his trip across Siberia to the Altai Moun-

tains (1829). However, he also relied heav-

ily on a global network of collaborators and 

correspondents to expand his observational 

capacities. His scientific works were built on 

information obtained from hundreds of sci-

entific and scholarly correspondents, and he 

mined data from accounts and anecdotes of 

travelers, traders, diplomats, sailors, soldiers, 

and priests. He also made extensive use of 

indigenous and local knowledge (5, 8–10). 

Humboldt recognized that such phenomena 

as weather, climate, ocean circulation, earth-

quakes, volcanism, and geomagnetism could 

be understood only through systematic mon-

itoring, and he used his collegial networks 

to build a distributed, global, geomagnetic 

observatory, the first international scientific 

cooperative of its kind. He also organized the 

first modern scientific society, which became 

the model for others.

Humboldt was far more than a natural 

scientist, though. He was a pioneer-

ing social scientist and, above all, a 

humanist. His volumes on Venezuela 

(9), Cuba (11), and Mexico (12) inte-

grate physical, cultural, historical, 

and economic features. Views of the 

Cordilleras is an ingenious synthesis 

of art, anthropology, history, linguistics, geol-

ogy, and geography (10). Humboldt argued 

that all the diverse peoples of the world were 

a single species, with no peoples or cultures 

a priori superior to or dominant over others 

(7). He was also a passionate and vocal op-

ponent of imperialism, colonialism, and slav-

ery (8, 11, 12). Humboldt’s humanistic views 

were radical; in his lifetime, slavery flour-

ished across the Americas, and imperialism 

expanded under a seldom-challenged notion 

that the “advanced” peoples of European de-

scent had a right, even a duty, to subjugate 

other cultures and peoples across the globe.

Although Humboldt’s pursuit of scientific 

knowledge was driven by curiosity, ambition, 

and a desire to contribute to human welfare, 

it was part of a larger vision encompassing 

nature and the human mind. Throughout his 

work, he explored the fundamental tension 

between the external world of nature and the 

internal world of human sensations, percep-

tions, and emotions (1, 5, 7). As a scientist, he 

assumed that the natural world is compre-

hensible, despite its particularity and com-

plexity. As a humanist, he recognized that 

our understanding of the natural world is a 

product of the human mind, filtered through 

sensations and emotions. His awareness of 

the diversity of nature and the essence of 

the mind and senses led to his own feeling 

of intellectual humility. He noted that, “Ex-

periential sciences are never completed, the 

abundance of sensory perceptions can never 

be exhausted; no generation will ever be able 

to pride itself on possessing an overview of 

the entirety of phenomena” (13).

Humboldt was fascinated by the diverse 

ways in which human cultures have ex-

plained and engaged with the natural world, 

but also by the emotional reactions held in 

common by cultures separated widely in 

time and space—awe, reverence, inspira-

tion, fear, and delight (7). His vision of the 

cosmos was a never-ending program of ap-

plying the tools of science to understand 

nature, while simultaneously applying the 

practices of the humanities—art, poetry, 

literature, music—to appreciate nature and 

to deepen our understanding of it (1, 7, 8). 

Science is an important way to know the 

world, but it is one among many. Knowing 

of the world intellectually and aesthetically 

is enriching and empowering, and strength-

ens our bonds with nature and humanity, 

and our respect for both.

Aesthetics and science were inseparable 

in his works. The 1807 Chimborazo profile 

was a fusion of art and science (1), as were 

the subsequent botanical monographs (14) 

and graphic inserts [e.g., (4, 9–12)]. His most 

rhapsodic works for general audiences are 

jammed with scientific digressions and de-

tails (5, 9), and his most technical works are 

interspersed with passages of lyrical, often 

passionate prose (1, 4, 11). Humboldt inspired 

artists, poets, and writers through the 19th 

century—a small sample includes Frederic 

Edwin Church, Herman Melville, Henry Da-

vid Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Karl Bodmer, 

and Walt Whitman (8, 15).

Humboldt’s works led to several decades 

of “Humboldtian science” in the United 

States and elsewhere, characterized by sys-

tematic exploration and mapping of ter-

ritory, measurement, or description of 

physical, geological, biological, and often 

cultural phenomena, collection of materials 

for detailed study and institutional curation, 

and efforts to identify patterns and draw 

broad inferences (3, 8, 15). In the course of 

the 19th century, Humboldtian science often 

became a tool of empire and conquest, and 

his humanistic vision was largely overshad-

owed. Near the century’s end, Humboldtian 

science disintegrated as unexplored territory 

diminished and the constituent sciences be-

came balkanized into distinct, territorial dis-

ciplines. Global-network science expanded, 

but largely within disciplines (e.g., oceanog-

raphy, meteorology, geophysics).

Since the mid–20th century, many ele-

ments of Humboldt’s original vision have re-

emerged, though irregularly and not without 

conflict. Interdisciplinarity has proliferated, 

driven by fundamental scientific opportu-

nities and the complex and multifaceted 

challenges of environmental and societal 

change. During and since the Cold War, in-

ternational scientific collaboration served as 

a diplomatic tool and agent of peace, and in 

recent decades has grown to address such 

global concerns as climate change, biodi-

versity, and environmental sustainability. 

The scientific community has diversified 

along many dimensions, including gender, 

ethnicity, nationality, and culture, driven by 

changing societal and community values. In-

digenous and local knowledge is now being 

explicitly valued and utilized in scientific as-

sessments (16). These are all hopeful 

trends, as are the broadening public 

appreciation for science and concern 

over the future of nature under cli-

mate change and other threats.

Scientists are now involved in a 

debate over whether the Anthropo-

cene should be recognized as a formal geo-

logical epoch. The Anthropocene discussion 

focuses attention on a fundamentally Hum-

boldtian observation: Humanity and nature 

are deeply intertwined. Humans have been 

influencing the natural world at local, re-

gional, and perhaps global scales for many 

millennia. The changing natural world has 

had reciprocal influences on human welfare 

and activities. Nature and humanity are 

now locked in lopsided coevolution—that is, 

nature would persist in the absence of hu-

manity, but humanity cannot exist without 

nature (16). Accelerating human impacts, 

together with sequential appearance of 

novel  activities (e.g., fire, cultivation, fossil-

fuel combustion, synthesis of polymers and 

pharmaceuticals), draw the fates of nature 

and humanity ever closer.

Alexander von Humboldt’s vision, linking 

science with the broader human experience, 

is essential for addressing the grave environ-

mental and societal challenges that we face 

in the Anthropocene. That vision places sci-

ence in proper perspective as an imperfect 

but aspirational human endeavor—one that 

is necessary but not sufficient to foster a 

healthy relationship with the natural world. 

Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center, US Geological 
Survey, and University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. 
Email: stjackson@usgs.gov

“Knowing the world intellectually 
and aesthetically...strengths our bonds 

with nature and humanity...” 

Julius Schrader’s portrait (1859),“Baron 

Alexander von Humboldt,” shows Chimborazo 

and Cotopaxi in the background.  

13 SEP TEMBER 2019 • VOL 365 ISSUE 6458    1 0 7 5

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INSIGHTS  |   P E R S P E C T I V E S

1 0 7 6     13 SEP TEMBER 2019 • VOL 365 ISSUE 6458 sciencemag.org  S C I E N C E

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It also emphasizes that all people have a 

stake in nature and in science. Humboldt 

was optimistic that everyone could under-

stand and appreciate nature and science 

(5, 7), and he regularly engaged the public 

in his writings and lectures. These were 

more than pronouncements from a moun-

taintop. Olympian as he was intellectually, 

Humboldt conversed with and learned from 

mine laborers, peasant farmers, subsistence 

hunters, seamen, and indigenous peoples 

wherever he encountered them. Although 

he was unapologetically liberal, he engaged 

with slaveholders, aristocrats, colonial bu-

reaucrats, emperors, and kings. Humboldt’s 

combination of empathy, humility, confi-

dence, and rigor can serve as a model for 

engaging the public on matters of urgent 

concern. Active valuing of nature can come 

from linking emotional responses and sen-

sual experience with intellectual curiosity 

and scientific understanding. Extending the 

understanding to encompass the past, and 

to envision alternative futures for nature 

and humankind in the Anthropocene, can 

motivate hope and action. Rekindling Hum-

boldt’s vision, and building on his legacy, 

can provide not only solace and inspiration, 

but also maps and narratives toward a bet-

ter future for nature and people. j

R E F E R E N C E S  A N D  N OT E S

 1.  A. von Humboldt, A. Bonpland, Essay on the Geography of 
Plants (Transl. S. Romanowski; Ed. S. T. Jackson) (Univ. of 
Chicago Press, 2009).

 2.  N. Morueta-Holme et al.,  Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 103, 315 (2018). 
 3.  S. T. Jackson, Science 324, 596 (2009).  
 4.  A. de Humboldt, De Distributione Geographica Plantarum 

(Libraria Græco-Latino-Germanica, Paris, 1817) [Transl. P. 
Holt (unpublished)].

 5.  A. von Humboldt, Views of Nature (Transl. M. W. Person; Ed. S. 
T. Jackson, L. D. Walls) (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2014).

 6.  A. de Humboldt, Asie Centrale. Recherches sur les Chaines de 
Montagnes et la Climatologie Comparée (Gide, Paris, 1843).

 7.  A. von Humboldt, Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical 
Description of the Universe. (Transl. E. C. Otté) (Johns 
Hopkins Univ. Press, 1997).

 8.  L. D. Walls, The Passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt 
and the Shaping of America (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2009).

 9.  A. von Humboldt, Personal Narrative of Travels to the 
Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, During the Years 
1799-1804. (Transl. H. M. Williams) (Longman, Hurst, Rees, 
Orme, and Brown, London, 1818, 1819, 1821, 1826, 1829).

 10.  A. von Humboldt, Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of 
the Indige nous Peoples of the Americas – A Critical Edition. 
(Transl. J. R. Poynter; Ed. V. M. Kutzinski, O. Ette) (Univ. of 
Chicago Press, 2012).

 11.  A. von Humboldt, Political Essay on the Island of Cuba: A 
Critical Edition (Transl. J. B. Anderson, V. M. Kutzinski, A. 
Becker; Ed. V. M. Kutzinski, O. Ette) (Univ. of Chicago Press, 
2011).

 12.  A. de Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain 
(Transl. J. Black) (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 
London, 1814).

 13.  A. von Humboldt, Kosmos, vol. 1, p. 65 (J. F. Cotta’scher Verlag, 
Stuttgart, 1845) (passage translated by M. W. Person).

 14.  H. W. Lack, Alexander von Humboldt and the Botanical 
Exploration of the Americas (Prestel Verlag, Munich, 2009).

 15.  A. Sachs, The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century 
Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism 
(Viking, 2006).

 16.  S. Díaz et al., Science 359, 270 (2018).  

AC K N OW L E D G M E N TS

I am grateful to L. Dassow Walls and T. E. Lovejoy for comments 
and discussion.

10.1126/science.aax7212

By Tamara Davis

O
ne of the most fundamental and con-

troversial measurements in cosmol-

ogy, Hubble’s constant (H
0
), informs 

scientists about how rapidly the 

Universe is expanding. The debate 

about the value of H
0
 has heated 

up recently as increasingly precise mea-

surements from different techniques are 

converging on different values for H
0
. This 

discrepancy either means that the H
0
 mea-

surements have systematic errors larger 

than astrophysicists can explain, or it re-

veals something profound about the phys-

ics underlying our universe. On page 1134 

of this issue, Jee et al. (1) present a new way 

to measure H
0
, by combining information 

from strong gravitational lensing and the 

motion of stars within the lens galaxy, to 

calibrate supernova luminosities .

In the 1920s, astrophysicists Georges Le-

maître and Edwin Hubble independently 

discovered that the Universe is expanding 

by noting that the more distant a galaxy, the 

faster it is receding from Earth, as encapsu-

lated in the Hubble-Lemaître law: velocity = 

H
0
 × distance. The value of H

0
 thus sets the 

current expansion rate of the Universe. To de-

rive H
0
, one must know both the distance of a 

cosmic object and its recession velocity.

Velocities can be calculated from the shift-

ing of spectral lines caused by the expansion 

of the Universe (redshifts). However, measur-

ing accurate distances has been the bane of 

astrophysicists. It is difficult to distinguish 

between a bright or large object that is far 

away and a faint or small one that is nearby. 

To overcome such difficulties, one must know 

the intrinsic properties of the object being 

measured. With a standard candle (an ob-

ject of known luminosity) or standard ruler 

(something of known size), cosmologists can 

use their apparent brightness or size, respec-

tively, to estimate an object’s distance.

Lemaître and Hubble derived the earli-

est estimates of H
0
 (~500 km s−1 Mpc−1) in 

the late 1920s, when the distances to galax-

ASTROPHYSICS

An expanding controversy
An independently calibrated measurement fortifies 
the debate around Hubble’s constant

Light 

source

Lig

so

Observer 

on EarthTime delay

Light 

ourcerce

Obser

on EaTime delay

Time delay + velocities 

 = standard ruler

Galaxy

Multiple paths to Hubble’s constant
The strong foreground lens, a galaxy, bends the path of light from a background supernova, so that 

light arrives at Earth by two routes of different lengths. Thus, the observer detects one image before 

the other. This time difference allows calculation of the lens’s mass. The velocity of stars orbiting in 

the lens galaxy reveals the gravitational potential. Together, these values yield the lensing system’s 

radius (a standard ruler). Jee et al. used this method to derive H
o
.

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Humboldt for the Anthropocene
Stephen T. Jackson

DOI: 10.1126/science.aax7212
 (6458), 1074-1076.365Science 

ARTICLE TOOLS http://science.sciencemag.org/content/365/6458/1074

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