Impact of Humboldtian Science
Humboldt succeeded in developing a comprehensive science that joined the separate branches of natural philosophy under a model of natural order founded on the concept of dynamic equilibrium. The work that Humboldt did reached far beyond his personal expeditions and discoveries. Figures from all across the globe participated and his work. Some such participants included French naval officers, East India Company physicians, Russian provincial administrators, Spanish military commanders, and German diplomats. Furthermore, as was aforementioned, Charles Darwin carried a copy of Humboldt’s Personal Narrative aboard H.M.S. Beagle. Humboldt’s projects, particularly those related to natural philosophy, played a significant role in the influx of European money and travelers to Spanish America in increasing numbers in the early 19th century. Sir Edward Sabine, a British scientist, worked on terrestrial magnetism in a manner that was certainly Humboldtian. Also, another British scientist, George Gabriel Stokes, depended heavily on abstract mathematical measurement to deal with error in a precision instrument; certainly Humboldtian science. Maybe the most prominent figure whose work can be considered representative of Humboldtian science, is geologist Charles Lyell. Despite a lack of emphasis on precise measurement in geology at the time, Lyell insisted on precision in a Humboldtian manner.
The promotion and development of terrestrial physics under Humboldtian science produced not only useful maps and statistics, but allowed both European and Creole societies tools for essentially ‘reimaging’ America. The lasting impact of Humboldtian science is described in Cultures of Natural History, "Humboldtian science illuminates the reorganization of knowledge and disciplines in the early nineteenth century that defined the emergence of natural history out of natural philosophy."
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