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Copyright of Revista Tamoios is the property of Editora da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (EdUERJ) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) published hundreds of essays and articles in journals and newspapers on five continents, making a considerable impact and influencing contemporary scientists and writers from Goethe and Darwin to Gabriel García Márquez and Daniel Kehlmann. These diverse writings were not collected and edited until 2019, on the occasion of his 250th birthday. They show Humboldt as a master of minor genres, an international and multilingual author, an early post-disciplinary researcher and a subtle autobiographical writer, a public intellectual and a post-colonial critic. They include studies on indigenous American peoples, the migration of plants and the politics of epidemiology. Paradoxically, the success of Humboldt's public communication generated a mythology that eclipsed the reception of his research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New York‐based architectural designer and critic Christian Hubert discusses the change in status of the architectural model since he wrote his seminal text 'The Ruins of Representation', published in the Idea as Model exhibition catalogue in 1981. The previous notion of the model as object and representation has become much more complex as contemporary concepts of worldmodelling have been investigated and established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El propósito de este estudio es ofrecer una interpretación de la novela corta Un episodio en la vida del pintor viajero (2000) de César Aira, desde el punto de vista del posthumanismo crítico. En este contexto, la noción metodológica central de nuestro acercamiento estético será la denominada “puesta en escena deshumanizante”. Las puestas en escena deshumanizantes señalan estrategias poéticas que no son destinadas a presentar la eliminación del principio antropológico, es decir, no representan una abstracción ‘más allá del hombre’, sino constituyen una puesta en escena de naturaleza estética, durante la cual se introducen tendencias antropomorfizadoras y a la vez desantropomorfizadoras. En esta novela corta de Aira, la relación contradictoria entre naturaleza y sujeto humano es la que sirve como medio de la puesta en escena deshumanizante. A mi modo de ver, emerge al mismo tiempo una dimensión ideológica, dado que el texto describe la intensidad estética que subvierte los órdenes perceptivos y representativos dentro del contexto de la fisionomía de la naturaleza y la pintura del paisaje.

Copyright of Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales is the property of Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores two modes of innocence at work in the making of the Humboldt Forum, Germany's biggest cultural project. It examines the legacy of the historical castle's "cabinet of curiosities" and the elevation of the Humboldt brothers, especially Alexander von Humboldt, to patron saints. Through these cases, the article identifies an exculpatory mode of innocence focused on the past and an anticipatory mode focused on the future. These modes, it argues, exemplify a tension between the imagination of history as a timeless realm that eschews redemption and as fungible materials that can be recombined to start anew and redeem the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tradução de texto de Alexander von Humboldt

In questo breve articolo cerco di sostenere l’idea che nell’opera di Alexander von Humboldt siano presenti delle intuizioni interessanti riguardo agli effetti delle attività umane negli ecosistemi e riguardo alle interrelazioni tra i vari elementi dell’ecosfera. Tali intuizioni sono il risultato del suo lavoro sul campo durante l’esplorazione in varie regioni del Sudamerica tra il 1799 e il 1804.

The edition humboldt digital is a publication of the project ‘Travelling Humboldt’ by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Together with its printed supplement the edition humboldt printed, it aims to make the scientific heritage that is relevant to Alexander von Humboldt’s journeys accessible in its entirety based on a digital first approach. Overall, the edition humboldt digital excels in exploiting digital techniques and successfully positions itself at the intersection of sciences and humanities. Therefore, it will be discussed in this review whether it could be considered not only as a scholarly digital edition but also as an information platform on Alexander von Humboldt and his work in general. Additionally, by pursuing an open science strategy, the edition also paves the way for future reuse of its data. Altogether, even though some technical issues remain, the edition humboldt digital can serve as a role model for other digital scholarly editions. As the edition is a work-in-progress project, this review only takes its fourth version into consideration.

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The present text consists of an adapted version of the presentation I made during the Seminar Monstruosas Organizações in 2017, in which I analyze again the americanist Alexander von Humboldt. There are passages from his Views of Nature in which layers of an anthropological discourse are found, when the ornament of the Indian funerary urns is seen in favor of a focus on the contact lines of nature and culture, to become the orchestration of a mythology internal to the human fantasy. However, beyond the humboldtian excavation of a “savage thought” through the symbolic conditions of ornament, there is a muffled layer in its anthropological perspective that marks the colonial space an ambivalence. Thanks to the parrot that Humboldt encounters in the Orinoco Falls, the language of the extinct Aturius Indians gains a contour, constituting the chords of what might be called the lesson of the animal, thus opening the beginning for a diverse mythological economy. --- DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22409/gragoata.2018n47a1212

Although positivism, based on linear progress and the idea that social development can only be achieved through scientific developments, put forward by Auguste Comte as a science movement against idols such as Baconian utopia, it has been argued that it restricts epistemological horizon by creating its own idols. From this point of view, the aim of this study is to mention the ambiguity between positivism and the concept of “science”, and to discuss different ideas of science against the delimitative effects of positivism. For this purpose, firstly the history of positivism will be mentioned; then the discussion on positivism between Popper and Adorno will be evaluated, and then alternative ideas of science and recent interdisciplinary studies will be discussed in regard to epistemological fruitfulness, reliability and social responsibility.

Abstract In the history of Humboldt research both brothers have been traditionally seen as representing the dichotomy between the humanities and the natural sciences. Today however, their similar approach to using and forming scientific language could be used as a starting point for conceiving a university, museum and even forum under one single Humboldtian science. Zusammenfassung In der Vergangenheit sah die Humboldt-Forschung beide Brüder als Vertreter gegenteiliger wissenschaftlicher Ansätze. Heute jedoch kann ihr ähnlicher Zugang zu wissenschaftlicher Sprache als Ausgangspunkt für die Konzipierung einer Universität, eines Museums und Forums unter einer einzigen Humboldtschen Wissenschaft genutzt werden. Resumen En la investigación humboldtiana, los hermanos tradicionalmente representaban la oposición entre las humanidades y las ciencias naturales. Hoy, en cambio, su enfoque similar de usar y construir las lenguas y los discursos de sus respectivas disciplinas se puede usar como punto de partida en concebir una universidad, un museo y un fórum desde una sola ciencia humboldtiana. Lecture held on the occasion of Leibniz Day, 2017 of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities

Zusammenfassung Immanuel Kant erwähnt in seiner Physische Geographie den Wasserfall vom Rio Bogotá in Südamerika, der als Salto del Tequendama bekannt ist und in der Nähe der Hauptstadt Kolumbiens, in Bogotá, liegt. Dabei behauptet Kant er sei der Höchste Wasserfall der Welt, was nicht stimmt. Alexander von Humboldt dürfte von Kants Behauptung nichts wissen aber besuchte den Salto 1801, kurz bevor Kants Physische Geographie veröffentlicht wurde; er ging hin um die Höche von Salto zu messen. In diesem Aufsatz werden beide Persönlichkeiten verglichen, da sie durch diesen Wasserfall verbunden wurden ohne es zu wissen. Resumen Immanuel Kant menciona en su Geografía Física la cascada del Río Bogotá en América del Sur, conocida hoy como el Salto de Tequendama, que se encuentra cerca de Bogotá, la capital de Colombia. Aquí Kant afirma que esa era la caída de agua más alta del mundo, lo cual no es cierto. Alexander von Humboldt no podía saber nada de eso, pero visitó el Salto en 1801, justo antes de la publicación de la Geografía Física de Kant, y fue a medir personalmente la altura del Salto. En este escrito hacemos una comparación de ambas personalidades que, sin saberlo, estuvieron unidas por su interés por el Salto de Tequendama. Summary Immanuel Kant mentions in his Physical Geography the waterfall of the Bogota River in South America, known today as the Salto de Tequendama, which is located near Bogota, the capital city of Colombia. Kant claims that this was the highest waterfall in the world, which is not true. Alexander von Humboldt could not know anything about it, but he visited the Salto in 1801, just before the publication of Kant's Physical Geography, and went to personally measure the height of the Salto. In this paper we make a comparison of both personalities who, unknowingly, were united by their interest in the Salto de Tequendama.

The insight that scientific theories are "practice‐laden" has animated scholarship in the history of science for nearly three decades. This article examines a style of geographical thought that was, I argue, movement‐laden. The thought‐style in question has been described as a "vertical consciousness that engulfed science in the early nineteenth century," and is closely associated with the geographical vision of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859). Humboldt's science spanned nature's horizontal and vertical axes, from Saxon mines to Andean summits, and from the currents of the ocean to those of the aerial ocean. In probing the origins of Humboldt's vertical thinking, this article opens up a broader history about the industrial practices and travel cultures that originally animated it. Humboldt's "global physics" first emerged within a context of vertical travel, up mountains and into mines and caverns. Rhythms of the body—lethal for some, "sublime" for others—became rhythms of the mind. A view of nature as set of vertically complementary spaces rippled through mining culture, Romantic art, and the geographical sciences. To trace the earliest routes of Humboldt's science is to acknowledge the many actors—some celebrated, most unsung—who took part in the making of a vertical consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental maps and historical consciousness, which describe the spatial and temporal dimensions of worldviews, are not, as commonly stated, twentieth century concepts. Historical consciousness was coined simultaneously by several German scholars in the mid-1800s. Mental maps, used in English since the 1820s, had a prominent role in US geography education from the 1880s. Since then, the concepts have traveled between practical-technical, educational, and academic vocabularies, cross fertilizing fields and contributing to the formation of new research questions. However, when these initial periods of reflection gave way to empirical investigation, strict intra-disciplinary definitions of the concepts have strengthened disciplinary borders by excluding the interpretations of the same concepts in other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Alexander von Humboldt also worked as a chemist. His central fields of work and research in chemistry will be outlined. Suggestions will be given for understanding some of his ideas and experiments in chemistry lessons and for talking to learners about Nature of Science (NOS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today the term 'perovskite' is used to designate the crystalline structure of a wide variety of ABX3 ionic compounds. However, historically this name was used for a specific material, having been coined for a mineral, calcium titanate (CaTiO3). This mineral was discovered in the Ural Mountains, Russia. The first sample of the mineral was transferred from Saint Petersburg to Berlin in 1839 by the Russian mineralogist Alexander Kämmerer, who gave the sample for further investigation to the German mineralogist and crystallographer Gustav Rose. Rose determined its properties and chemical composition and named the mineral after the Russian politician and mineralogist Lev Perovski. The present essay describes the background of this discovery as well as the life stories of the personalities involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores Alexander von Humboldt's influence on the education of young women in early nineteenth-century America. In the past decade, the English-speaking world has seen a resurgence of interest in Alexander von Humboldt. To date however, scholars have devoted relatively little attention to Humboldt's influence on American education, particularly before mid-century. When did schoolbooks begin to adopt his theories, and how universally did they incorporate them? Were young women exposed to his work as well as young men? To find out, this study analysed 44 editions of the most popular geography and botany texts designed for schools enrolling females as well as males during the period from 1791 to 1859. The analysis considers the degree to which these texts incorporated or ignored Humboldt's ideas in the following areas: (1) plant geography; (2) climate; (3) learning from nature; (4) human impact on nature; (5) slavery; (6) colonialism; (7) human equality; and (8) the earth's place in the cosmos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital content of the Internet is growing exponentially and mass digitization of printed media opens access to literature, in particular the genre of travel literature from the 18th and 19th century, which consists of diaries or travel books describing routes, observations or inspirations. The identification of described locations in the digital text is a long-standing challenge which requires information technology to supply dynamic links to sources by new forms of interaction and synthesis between humanistic texts and scientific observations. Using object oriented information technology, a prototype of a software tool is developed which makes it possible to automatically identify geographic locations and travel routes mentioned in rare books. The information objects contain properties such as names and classification codes for populated places, streams, mountains and regions. Together, with the latitudes and longitudes of every single location, it is possible to geo-reference this information in order that all processed and filtered datasets can be displayed by a map application. This method has already been used in the Humboldt Digital Library to present Alexander von Humboldt's maps and was tested in a case study to prove the correctness and reliability of the automatic identification of locations based on the work of Alexander von Humboldt and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The results reveal numerous errors due to misspellings, change of location names, equality of terms and location names. But on the other hand it becomes very clear that results of the automatic object detection and recognition can be improved by error-free and comprehensive sources. As a result an increase in quality and usability of the service can be expected, accompanied by more options to detect unknown locations in the descriptions of rare books.

In the 19th century Alexander von Humboldt explored the nature and was conceived a new vision of nature that still influences the way we understand the new world. Humboldt believed in the importance of accurate measurements and precise description of observations. His vision of nature included not only facts but also emotions. Nowadays smart solutions will be developed by using computer technology, which will influence our relationship to nature, our handling of the complexity and diversity of nature itself and the technological influences on the society. Could we avoid a new form of "Colonialism", when a network of super computers will create a smarter world?

Objective – to elucidate of life way, contribution to foundation and development of phytogeography, plant introduction and conservation of phytodiversity eminent German geographer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. Material and methods. Analysis of Humboldt’s scientific works and publications about his life and scientific works and publications about his life and scientific activities is made. Results. Achievements of Alexander von Humboldt in development of natural sciences are regarded. The scientific activities as founder of physical geography, comparable climatology and phytogeography are characterized. Importance of Humboldt’s phytogeographical concepts for plant introduction and conservation of plant diversity are underlined. Conclusion. Written in first half of XIX century scientific works of Alexander von Humboldt are actual in our time. These works are modern in interpretation of many phytogeographical problems.

Alexander von Humboldt was arguably the most influential scientist of his day. Although his fame has since lessened relative to some of his contemporaries, we argue that his influence remains strong—mainly because his approach to science inspired others and was instrumental in furthering other scientific disciplines (such as evolution, through Darwin, and conservation science, through Muir)—and that he changed the way that large areas of science are done and communicated. Indeed, he has been called the father of a range of fields, including environmental science, earth system science, plant geography, ecology and conservation. His approach was characterized by making connections between non‐living and living nature (including humans), based on interdisciplinary thinking and informed by large amounts of data from systematic, accurate measurements in a geographical framework. Although his approach largely lacked an evolutionary perspective, he was fundamental to creating the circumstances for Darwin and Wallace to advance evolutionary science. He devoted considerable effort illustrating, communicating and popularizing science, centred on the excitement of pure science. In biogeography, his influence remains strong, including in relating climate to species distributions (e.g. biomes and latitudinal and elevational gradients) and in the use of remote sensing and species distribution modelling in macroecology. However, some key aspects of his approach have faded, particularly as science fragmented into specific disciplines and became more reductionist. We argue that asking questions in a more Humboldtian way is important for addressing current global challenges. This is well‐exemplified by researching links between geodiversity and biodiversity. Progress on this can be made by (a) systematic data collection to improve our knowledge of biodiversity and geodiversity around the world; (b) improving our understanding of the linkages between biodiversity and geodiversity; and (c) developing our understanding of the interactions of geological, biological, ecological, environmental and evolutionary processes in biogeography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The links between geo‐ and biodiversity, postulated by Humboldt, can now be made quantitative. Species are adapted to their environments and interact with their environments by having pertinent functional traits. We aim to improve global ecometric models using functional traits for estimating palaeoclimate and apply models to Pleistocene fauna for palaeoclimate interpretation. Location: Global at present day, Pleistocene of Europe for fossil data analysis. Taxa: Artiodactyla, Perissodactyla, Proboscidea and Primates. Methods: We quantify functional traits of large mammal communities and develop statistical models linking trait distributions to local climate at present day. We apply these models to the fossil record, survey functional traits, and quantitatively estimate climates of the past. This approach to analysing functional relationships between faunal communities and their environments is called ecometrics. Results and main conclusions: Here, we present new global ecometric models for estimating mean annual and minimum temperature from dental traits of present day mammalian communities. We also present refined models for predicting net primary productivity. Using dental ecometric models, we produce palaeoclimate estimates for 50 Pleistocene fossil localities in Europe and show that the estimates are consistent with trends derived from other proxies, especially for minimum temperatures, which we hypothesize to be ecologically limiting. Our new temperature models allow us to trace the distribution of freezing and non‐freezing ecosystems in the recent past, opening new perspectives on the evolution of cold‐adaptive biota as the Pleistocene cooling progressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de la Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales is the property of Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de Indias is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of IBEROAMERICANA. América Latina - España - Portugal is the property of Vervuert Verlag and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Resumen El presente trabajo gira en torno al inexpugnable vínculo entre naturaleza y cultura y la 'no naturalidad' de la primera, producto de las milenarias intervenciones del hombre, subsumido bajo el término del 'antropoceno'. Los filósofos franceses Bruno Latour y Philippe Descola supieron destacar, aunque por caminos diferentes, la importancia de este nexo para asegurar la supervivencia del hombre; Bruno Latour centra sus reflexiones en la política de la naturaleza y Philippe Descola destaca el carácter ecológico de la naturaleza y la cultura. Sin embargo, ambos dejan de lado las literaturas del mundo y su capacidad de atesorar los diversos diseños del saber convivir entre hombre y naturaleza y las nociones de sustentabilidad. Descuella además la inspiración que Descola encuentra en la figura del gran erudito Alexander von Humboldt, quien en el siglo XIX ya daba fe de la relación inextricable entre naturaleza y cultura en innumerables testimonios, entre otros, el Chimborazo que, como cuadro global es representativo para entender que la naturaleza desde siempre ha sido cultura y la cultura es inimaginble sin la naturaleza. Zusammenfassung Im Vordergrund der vorliegenden Arbeit steht die unauflösbare Beziehung von Natur und Kultur, sowie die Nicht-Natürlichkeit derselben, Produkt der jahrhundertealten Eingriffe des Menschen, subsummiert unter dem Begriff des Anthropozän. Die französischen Philosophen Bruno Latour und Philippe Descola hoben, wenn auch auf unterschiedlichen Wegen, die Bedeutung dieses Zusammenhanges für die Gegenwart und Zukunft der Menschheit hervor; Bruno Latour konzentrier sich auf die Politik der Natur, Philippe Descola unterstreicht den ökologischen Charakter von Natur und Kultur. Beide lassen jedoch die Literaturen der Welt und ihre Fähigkeiten, die unterschiedlichen Entwürfe des Zusammenlebens und die Grundlagen der Nachhaltigkeit zu speichern, außen vor. Es wird auch auf Descolas Inspiration in der Figur des herausragenden Gelehrten Alexander von Humboldt eingegangen, der schon im 19. Jahrhundert in unzähligen Zeugnissen, unter anderem, das über den Chimborazo, das stellvertretend für ein Weltgemälde ist, auf die Unzertrennlichkeit von Natur und Kultur hingewiesen hatte. Abstract This paper investigates the inextricable correlation between nature and culture and the 'no naturality' of the first, product of men's millenarian interventions, subsumed in the word "anthropocene". French philosophers Bruno Latour and Philippe Descola emphasized, in different ways, the importance of this relation for humans present and future. Bruno Latour works out the politics of nature, Philippe Descola underscore the ecological character of nature and culture. Both disregard the literatures of the world and their capabilities to store different drafts of conviviality and the fundaments of sustainability. Descolas inspiration in the outstanding figure of the 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt is also mentioned, and the inseparableness of nature and culture which the erudite distinguished in innumerable testimonies, for example, the one about the Chimborazo.