Cosmos

Polymath Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a self-described 'scientific traveller', was one of the most respected scientists of his time. Humboldt's wanderlust led him across Europe and to South America, Mexico, the U.S. and Russia, and his voyages and observations resulted in the discovery of many species previously unknown to Europeans. Originating as lectures delivered in Berlin and Paris (1827-1828), his two-volume Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (1845-1860) represented the culmination of his lifelong interest in understanding the physical world. As Humboldt writes, 'I ever desired to discern physical phenomena in their widest mutual connection, and to comprehend Nature as a whole, animated and moved by inward forces'. Volume 2 (1848) reviews poetic descriptions of nature as well as landscape painting from antiquity through to modernity, before using the same time-span to examine a 'History of the Physical Contemplation of the Universe'.

ISBN 1108013643   Pages 514 ISBN13 9781108013642 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 650 Publisher Cambridge Library Collection   Published in Cambridge Imprint Cambridge University Press   Series title Cambridge Library Collection - Physical Sciences Format Paperback   Height (mm) 216 Publication date 10 Jun 2010   Width (mm) 140 DEWEY 523.1   Spine width (mm) 29 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level Postgraduate

Incitements to the study of nature; 1. Poetic descriptions of nature; 2. Landscape painting; 3. Culture of characteristic exotic plants; 4. History of the physical contemplation of the universe; Notes; Index.

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