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Alexander von Humboldt

Archives 1999

 

1998 (G) | 1999 | 2000 (G) | 2001 | 2002 | 2003

 

  Alexander von Humboldt's natural history legacy
and its relevance for today
  

Expedition to the Upper Orinoco River  |  For more information

 

 

Boston University, October 8 - 9, 1999

A Symposium commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the beginning of Alexander von Humboldt's five year pioneering expedition in the American tropics

 

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Organized under the schirmherrschaft (auspices) of His excellency Jürgen Chrobog, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United States of America, and Dr. Frank H. T. Rhodes, President of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia.

 

 

FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 8th

6:00 Reception

 

8:00 Keynote address

Following the footsteps of Alexander von Humboldt

Loren McIntyre, South American Explorers Club, Ithaca, NY, USA

 

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9th

 

The historical background of Humboldt's legacy

8:30

Humboldt's intellectual roots and training in the natural sciences and natural philosophy of his time

Dr. Michael Dettelbach, Smith College, Northhampton, MA, USA

 

Humboldt's scientific discoveries in Venezuela

Dr. Gustavo Romero, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

 

Humboldt's visit to Washington and Philadelphia in 1804,
his friendship with Jefferson, and his fascination with the United States

Dr. Ingo Schwarz, A.v.H. Research Center, Berlin, GERMANY

 

10:00 Coffe break



Humboldt's legacy:
his holistic world view and modern ecological research


10:30

Building a legacy: Humboldt and the historical tradition in Germany

A. Denise Phillips, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

 

Humboldt's holistic world view and modern inter- and transdisciplinary ecological research

Dr. Otto Fraenzle, Center for Ecology, Kiel, GERMANY

 

12:00 Buffet lunch

 

Scientific research today and the ideas of Humboldt

1:30

New perspectives in neotropical phytogeography based on the ideas of Humboldt

Dr. Otto Huber, Universidad Simon Bolivar, Caracas, VENEZUELA

 

Modern marine science and the ideas of Humboldt

Dr. Gerhard Kortum, Institute for Marine Sciences, Kiel, GERMANY

 

Thinking globally: Humboldt's inspiration for the earth sciences

Dr. Harold W. Borns, Quaternary Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME, USA

 

3:00 Coffee break

 

Humboldt's views on nature and man:
the progress and future of civilization


3:30

Man in the Cosmos: wilderness, civilization, and the human prospects

Evan Eisenberg, New York, NY, USA

 

"Hero of knowledge, be our tribute thine!" - Alexander von Humboldt in Victorian America

Dr. Laura Dassow Walls, Lafayette College, Easton, PA, USA

 

Humboldt's encounter with Andean culture: Inca ruins, native languages and local memories in Humboldt's account of Ecuador

Dr. Carlos Espinosa, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador

 

The scientist as Weltbürger

Dr. Ottmar Ette, University of Potsdam, Berlin-Potsdam, GERMANY

 

5:30 Cocktail break

Readings from Humboldt's writings: man's emotional bond with nature

 

7:00 Banquet dinner
8:15 Concluding address

Tropical nature and the new millenium

Dr. Adrian Forsyth, W. Alton Jones Foundation and National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

 

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 10th

10:00 Exhibit of portraits of Alexander von Humboldt from the archives of the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Also books and other items from or about Humboldt

 

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Humboldt Bicentennial Botany and Ornithology Expedition to the Upper Orinoco River in Venezuela

October 14 - 31, 1999


This bicentennial expedition-style seminar involves an extended trip up the Orinoco River to La Esmeralda, the furthest point reached by Alexander von Humboldt during his 5-year pioneering expedition deep into the Amazon basin 200 years ago. Participants will travel in dugout canoes approximately 330 km on the Orinoco River, stopping regularly for field trips. Excursions will be made into the Cunucunuma River (considered the most beautiful tributary of the Orinoco); up Cerro Duida (a tepui or table top mountain), from which one has a panoramic view of the Amazon basin; and into the Casiquiare River, the river which connects the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers, a fact that was first discovered by Humboldt. The program provides a broad overview of the botany, ornithology, biogeography, and natural history of the Orinoco region. The program offers the opportunity to explore the flora of the different plant communities and the diversity of vegetation along the Orinoco River. It will review the differences between whitewater, blackwater and clearwater rivers and the ecological functioning of the forests that produce these kinds of waters. Different savanna types will be visited, i.e., on white soil sands (Amazonian type savannas), normal soil sands (llanos type savannas), inundated savannas, and floating savannas. Seasonally inundated forests will also be visited. Systematic botany discussions will focus on common species and characters that can be easily used to identify families and genera, based on such books as Alwyn Gentry's superb field guide to woody and herbaceous species. The program will also review the flora and fauna of the Guayana lowlands and highlands, focusing on the geology of the Guiana shield, plant endemicity and the adaptations of plant species to poor and acid soils. A visit will also be made to a 150 year-old Hevea (rubber) plantation. There will be opportunities to understand indigenous food resources by visiting "conucos" (cultivated fields) that are cut out of the rainforest, planted for a few years, and then abandonned to revert back to forest. Those who are interested in ornithology, will be able to devote their time to observations in the wide variety of habitats that will be visited throughout the trip.

Co-sponsors of the Symposium:
Humboldt Field Research Institute, Steuben, ME, USA
Center for Ecology and Conservation Biology, Boston University, USA
German Consulate, Boston, MA, USA

The Symposium registration fee is $60 ( $35 for students), including meals

 

For information on the symposium and expedition, please contact

Humboldt Field Research Institute

Dyer Bay Road, P.O. Box 9, Steuben, ME 04680-0009

207-546-2821, Fax 546-3042

humboldt@nemaine.com

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