The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St, will host a Sierra Club presentation of "Alexander von Humboldt: Nature's Geographer" on Thursday, Sept. 17 at 6:30 pm in the Library's Lee Room. This free program is open to the public and no registration is necessary.
A man who has the distinction of having the most places in the world named in his honor, and of being the scientist with the most portraits painted of him, Humboldt was both a founder of modern geography and a remarkable naturalist. The program will be presented by Professor Emeritus Frank N. Egerton, University of Wisconsin-Parkside.
The wealthy son of the prime minister of Prussia, Humboldt was an explorer of Spanish America from 1799-1804. Among his many accomplishments, he is known to have mapped the Orinoco River, climbed the Chimborazo Volcano (the highest elevation climb of that time), and collected many plants, animals and mineral specimens. He spent a quarter-century and most of his fortune publishing his memoirs and scientific discoveries. Humboldt was the most famous scientist of his day, and remained active in science until he died in 1859 at the age of 90. He and his writings inspired a generation of young men to become scientist-explorers, including Charles Darwin.
Prof. Egerton's talk is based on a chapter in a history of ecological sciences he is writing for the University of California Press. The presentation will be well illustrated with reproductions from Humboldt's volumes and his portraits. In 2007, the Ecological Society of America awarded Prof. Egerton its Distinguished Service Award for his history of ecology publications.
For more information about this and other great programs at your Racine Public Library, call 262.636.9217 or visit the website at www.racinelibrary.info. The library may also be found online at rplinfo.blogspot.com, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube,and Twitter.
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