He simply was, as one contemporary put it, 'the greatest man since the Deluge'. Napoleon was jealous of him Simon Bolívar's revolution was fuelled by his ideas Darwin set sail on the Beagle because of Humboldt and Jules Verne's Captain Nemo owned all his many books. His colourful adventures read like something out of a Boy's Own story: Humboldt explored deep into the rainforest, climbed the world's highest volcanoes and inspired princes and presidents, scientists and poets alike. There are towns, rivers, mountain ranges, the ocean current that runs along the South American coast, there's a penguin, a giant squid – even the Mare Humboldtianum on the moon. Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is the great lost scientist: more things are named after him than anyone else.
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