Duke Celebrates the 250th Anniversary of Alexander von Humboldt's Birth

SAVE-THE-DATES for a two-part celebration of the 250th anniversary of one of the most brilliant scientists to ever live and the most famous scientist of his age, Alexander von Humboldt.

1 October 2019, Public Lecture and Lynn W. Day Lectureship given by Andrea Wulf, best-selling author of The Invention of Nature, 6:30-8pm, Love Auditorium, Levine Science Research Center (LSRC) on Duke’s West Campus. Parking in Bryan Center parking lot and deck. 

The Lynn W. Day Distinguished Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History is sponsored by the Forest History Society, the Duke University Department of History, and the Nicholas School of the Environment. This year's lecture has received additional support from Bass Connections at Duke University.

1-2 November 2019, Celebratory Colloquium for Alexander von Humboldt’s 250th at the Forest History Society, 2925 Academy Rd., just off Duke’s west campus. Speakers include:

Laura Walls, English Department at Notre Dame (Passage to Cosmos)

Eleanor Harvey, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Senior Curator of the forthcoming American Cosmos

Nicolaas Rupke, Institut fűr Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Universität Göttingen (Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography)

Stephen Bell, Department of Geography, UCLA (A Life in Shadow – Aimé Bonpland in Southern South America)

Elizabeth Millán, Department of Philosophy, DePaul University (The Romantic Roots of Alexander von Humboldt’s Presentation of Nature)

Stephen Jackson, Department of Botany, University of Wyoming (edited Humboldt’s Essay on the Geography of Plants and co-edited with Laura Walls Humboldt’s Ansichten der Nature)

Sponsored by Bass Connections at Duke University, Forest History Society, Duke Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Science and Cultural Theory, Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke’s Department of History, Franklin Humanities Institute, and National Humanities Center.

For more information contact organizers: Daniel Richter and Zackary Johnson, Nicholas School of the Environment; Steven Anderson and James Lewis at (919) 682-9319, Forest History Society.