Klemun, Marianne (Author)
This contribution builds on the notion of ‘Humboldtian Science’, coined by the American historian of science Susan F. Cannon who, in her book "Science in Culture: The Early Victorian Period" (1978), identifed a constellation of practices, strategies and ideas as typical of the research style of British naturalists during the nineteenth century. Cannon’s explanatory model has been widely accepted and for many different reasons. It became attractive as it seemed to break the deadlock of the ambivalence between idealism and empiricism, leading beyond the narrow perspective of academic disciplines. At the same time, it focused on practices and has become a useful tool to analyze the seemingly everyday activities of naturalists in the field. This contribution discusses the potential of this concept at different levels and will also show its limits; insofar as it runs the risk of idealizing Humboldt as an already epigonal figure. It will also analyze Humboldt’s connections to Vienna and his influences on natural sciences by focusing on two examples from the earth sciences, the contributions of the palaeontologist and biologist Franz Unger and the geologist and geographer Friedrich Simony. In so doing, it will widen understanding of the impact of Humboldt’s work in Vienna, detecting not only ‘Humboldtian Science’ but also the Humboldtian way of seeing and knowing where it is not expected: in Unger’s Atlantis theory, his visualization of origins of cultivated plants, and his visualization of deep time, as well as Friedrich Simony’s concept of scientific landscape drawings.
...More
Chapter
Jon Mathieu;
(2021)
Divergent Perception: Deserts and Mountains in Transition to Modernity, Seen through Alexander von Humboldt’s Views of Nature
(/isis/citation/CBB984242932/)
Article
Francesco Luzzini;
(2018)
Scalare il Sublime: Scienza e storia nel primo volume del Memoriale dell’Hotel Nave d’Oro di Predazzo (1820-1875)
(/isis/citation/CBB511003362/)
Book
Francesco Luzzini;
(2022)
Quando il mondo scalò il Sublime. Scienza e storia nel primo Memoriale dell'Hotel Nave d'Oro di Predazzo (1820-1875)
(/isis/citation/CBB828950191/)
Article
Lydia Barnett;
(2020)
Showing and hiding: The flickering visibility of earth workers in the archives of earth science
(/isis/citation/CBB475323393/)
Chapter
Simona Boscani Leoni;
Sarah Baumgartner;
Meike Knittel;
(2021)
Introduction: From Switzerland to the Indies
(/isis/citation/CBB610089546/)
Book
Eleanor Jones Harvey;
Hans-Dieter Sues;
(2020)
Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture
(/isis/citation/CBB152797652/)
Chapter
Chetan Singh;
(2021)
Creation of “Scientific” Knowledge: The Asiatick Society and Exploration of the Himalaya, 1784–1850
(/isis/citation/CBB662212988/)
Article
Francesco Luzzini;
(2017)
Agordo fu fatale. Le ricerche e l’ultimo viaggio di Friedrich Mohs (1773-1839)
(/isis/citation/CBB971582027/)
Book
Simona Boscani Leoni;
Sarah Baumgartner;
Meike Knittel;
(2021)
Connecting Territories: Exploring People and Nature, 1700–1850
(/isis/citation/CBB246418898/)
Book
Belli, Gabriella;
Giacomoni, Paola;
Ottani Cavina, Anna;
(2003)
Montagna: Arte, scienza, mito da Dürer a Warhol
(/isis/citation/CBB000741141/)
Chapter
Francesco Luzzini;
(2022)
Quando si parla d'ambiente (e di scienza, e di storia)
(/isis/citation/CBB421013344/)
Book
Claudio Greppi;
(2021)
Tracce di Humboldt. Osservare, descrivere, misurare
(/isis/citation/CBB352822029/)
Article
Brevern, Jan von;
(2009)
Counting on the Unexpected: Aimé Civiale's Mountain Photography
(/isis/citation/CBB000932762/)
Article
Alice Kim;
Nicole C. Lautze;
(2021)
Western explorers and volcanic heat in Hawai’i
(/isis/citation/CBB631921295/)
Article
Susanne S. Renner;
Ulrich Päßler;
Pierre Moret;
(2023)
“My Reputation is at Stake.” Humboldt's Mountain Plant Geography in the Making (1803–1825)
(/isis/citation/CBB292201714/)
Article
Meira Gold;
(2018)
Ancient Egypt and the Geological Antiquity of Man, 1847–1863
(/isis/citation/CBB995607914/)
Book
Lawson, Russell M.;
(2012)
Frontier Naturalist: Jean Louis Berlandier and the Exploration of Northern Mexico and Texas
(/isis/citation/CBB001202063/)
Book
Allen, David Elliston;
(2001)
Naturalists and Society: The Culture of Natural History in Britain, 1700-1900
(/isis/citation/CBB000100994/)
Article
Martin S. Brook;
Susanna Ferrar;
(2019)
Hartley Travers Ferrar (1879-1932) and his geological legacy in antarctica, Egypt and New Zealand
(/isis/citation/CBB081481552/)
Article
Sara Albuquerque;
(2022)
A complementary note to Welwitsch's map of travellers in Africa
(/isis/citation/CBB292349978/)
Be the first to comment!