Portrait of Alexander von Humboldt

People/scientist, explorer

Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859), scientist, explorer, engineer, from Germany.

The lucky break

Studied mining under Werner at Freiberg in 1791-92 and entered Prussian state service as a mining assessor in March 1792.1,2

Legacy

As Oberbergmeister in Ansbach-Bayreuth he raised mine yields, worked on a safety lamp and breathing apparatus, and founded from his own funds a mining school at Steben in 1793, the first of its kind, which the state took over.1,2

Story cards

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People

Partner ofAbraham Gottlob WernerThe student who learned mining at Freiberg then built the first mining school.1

Mines

Worked atFreiberg silver mining districtHe studied mining under Werner at Freiberg in 1791-92.1

Sources

  1. Humboldt, Alexander von Neue Deutsche Biographie / Deutsche Biographie
  2. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons

Pictures on this page: Stieler, Joseph Karl - Alexander von Humboldt - 1843.jpg, Joseph Karl Stieler (Public domain); Abraham Gottlob Werner.jpg, Christian Leberecht Vogel (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Bucket wheel excavators by bluecloud9, CC BY-SA 2.0; Longwall mining by Bochum1805, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Pictures: Potosi, Bolivia, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).