Editing Alexander von Humboldt (section)

===Recognitions by contemporaries===

[[Simón Bolívar]] wrote that "The real discoverer of South America was Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all conquerors".<ref>Raymond Erickson, Mauricio A. Font, Brian Schwartz. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283269427_Alexander_von_Humboldt_From_the_Americas_to_the_Cosmos ''Alexander von Humboldt. From the Americas to the Cosmos''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180310010635/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283269427_Alexander_von_Humboldt_From_the_Americas_to_the_Cosmos |date=2018-03-10 }} p. xvi. Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York</ref> [[Charles Darwin]] expressed his debt to Humboldt, and admiration for his work,<ref>Darwin Correspondence Project "[http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-9601 Letter 9601] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002181552/http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-9601 |date=2012-10-02 }} – Darwin, C. R. to secretary of New York Liberal Club", [after 13 Aug 1874]</ref> writing to [[Joseph Dalton Hooker]] that Humboldt was the "''greatest scientific traveller who ever lived''".<ref>Darwin Correspondence Project " [http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-13277 Letter 13277] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002181731/http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/entry-13277 |date=2012-10-02 }} – Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 6 Aug 1881</ref> <!-- source needed, possibly in Letter 9601? – "I have always admired him; now I worship him".--> [[Wilhelm von Humboldt]] wrote that "Alexander is destined to combine ideas and follow chains of thoughts which would otherwise have remained unknown for ages. His depth, his sharp mind and his incredible speed are a rare combination." [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe]] observed that "Humboldt showers us with true treasures". [[Friedrich Schiller]] wrote that "Alexander impresses many, particularly when compared to his brother—because he shows off more!" [[José de la Luz y Caballero]] wrote that "Columbus gave Europe a New World; Humboldt made it known in its physical, material, intellectual, and moral aspects".

[[Napoléon Bonaparte]] remarked "You have been studying Botanics? Just like my wife!" [[Claude Louis Berthollet]] said "This man is as knowledgeable as a whole academy". [[Thomas Jefferson]] remarked "I consider him the most important scientist whom I have met". [[Emil du Bois-Reymond]] wrote that "Every assiduous scholar ... is Humboldt's son; we are all his family."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Zwei grosse Naturforscher des 19. Jahrhunderts. Ein Briefwechsel zwischen Emil du Bois-Reymond und Karl Ludwig|publisher=Verlag von Johann Ambrosius Barth|year=1927|editor-last=du Bois-Reymond|editor-first=Estelle|location=Leipzig|page=61}}</ref> [[Robert G. Ingersoll]] wrote that "He was to science what Shakespeare was to the drama".<ref>''The Writings of Robert G Ingersoll'' (Dresden Edition), C. P. Farrell (1900)</ref>

[[Hermann von Helmholtz]] wrote that "During the first half of the present century we had an Alexander von Humboldt, who was able to scan the scientific knowledge of his time in its details, and to bring it within one vast generalization. At the present juncture, it is obviously very doubtful whether this task could be accomplished in a similar way, even by a mind with gifts so peculiarly suited for the purpose as Humboldt's was, and if all his time and work were devoted to the purpose."<ref>H. Helmholtz (1869), translated by E. Atkinson, ''The aim and progress of physical science'', in Popular Lectures on Scientific Subjects, 1873</ref>