Born in Berlin in 1769, died in 1859; educated at Frankfurt
and Göttingen; a mining engineer in 1792; resigning his
position in 1797, he traveled in Switzerland, Italy and
France; made a scientific journey to South America and
Mexico in 1799-1804; lived in Paris in 1809-27; settled in
Berlin in 1827; went to Siberia and the Caspian Sea at the
instance of the Emperor of Russia in 1829; several
scientific works based on his travels appeared before 1845;
in 1845-58 published his masterpiece, "Cosmos"; a brother of
Frederick von Humboldt, who was a philologist.