---
title: "Alexander von Humboldt"
chunk: 17/18
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Humboldt"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:06:32.417759+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Illness and death ===
On 24 February 1857, Humboldt suffered a minor stroke, which passed without perceptible symptoms. It was not until the winter of 1858–1859 that his strength began to decline; on 6 May 1859, he died peacefully in Berlin, aged 89. His last words were reported to be "How glorious these sunbeams are! They seem to call Earth to the Heavens!" His remains were conveyed in state through the streets of Berlin, in a hearse drawn by six horses. Royal chamberlains led the cortège, each charged with carrying a pillow with Humboldt's medals and other decorations of honor. Humboldt's extended family, descendants of his brother Wilhelm, walked in the procession. Humboldt's coffin was received by the prince-regent at the door of the cathedral. He was interred at the family resting-place at Tegel, alongside his brother Wilhelm and sister-in-law Caroline.

== Honours and namesakes ==
The honours which had been showered on Humboldt during their life continued after his death. More species are named after Humboldt than after any other human being. The first centenary of Humboldt's birth was celebrated on 14 September 1869, with great enthusiasm in both the New and Old Worlds. Numerous monuments were constructed in his honour, such as Humboldt Park in Chicago, planned that year and constructed shortly after the Chicago fire. Newly explored regions and species named after Humboldt, as discussed below, also stand as a measure of his wide fame and popularity.
"Scarcely was there a European order which Humboldt had not the right to wear", and "more than a hundred and fifty societies to which he had been elected". These included "the most celebrated Academies of the leading nations of Europe and America, and not merely those of a purely scientific character, but any which had for their object the spread of education and the advancement of civilisation." Additionally, he was at least an honorary member of academies and learned societies throughout Europe and America and "was invested with the degree of Doctor in three faculties".

=== Honours ===
1827 Honorary Doctor of the Imperial University of Dorpat
1829: Actual Privy Counsellor, with the title of Excellency by King Frederick William III of Prussia
1842: Chancellor of the Order of Merit, an administrative position empowered to appoint, by King Frederick William IV of Prussia
1842: Pour le Mérite, Recipient (civil division)
1844: Order of the Red Eagle, by King Frederick William IV of Prussia
1847: Order of the Black Eagle, by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, the highest honour that was in the royal power to confer.
1850: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
1852: Copley Medal "For his eminent services in terrestrial physics"
1853: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art by King Maximilian II of Bavaria "as the man who honours the order", "the hero of science in Germany".
1863: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Guadalupe

=== Species named after Humboldt ===

Humboldt described many geographical features and species that were hitherto unknown to Europeans. Species named after him include:

Spheniscus humboldti – Humboldt penguin
Dosidicus gigas – Humboldt squid
Lilium humboldtii – Humboldt's lily
Saimiri cassiquiarensis – Humboldt's squirrel monkey
Phragmipedium humboldtii – an orchid
Quercus humboldtii – South American (Andean) oak
Conepatus humboldtii – Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk
Annona humboldtii – Neotropical fruit tree or shrub
Utricularia humboldtii – a bladderwort
Geranium humboldtii – a cranesbill
Salix humboldtiana – a South-American willow
Inia geoffrensis humboldtiana – Amazon river dolphin subspecies of Orinoco River basin
Rhinocoryne humboldti – marine snail
Bathybembix humboldti – marine snail
Rhinella humboldti – Rivero's toad
Pteroglossus humboldti – Humboldt's Araçari
Hylocharis humboldtii – Humboldt's hummingbird
Casignethus humboldti – beetle
Elzunia humboldt – butterfly
†Lenisambulatrix humboldti – Cambrian Lobopodia
Squamulea humboldtiana – lichen
E. (S.) humboldti 

=== Geographical features named after Humboldt ===
Features named after him include:

=== Places named after Humboldt ===
The following places are named for Humboldt:

=== Astronomical features ===
Mare Humboldtianum (lunar mare)
54 Alexandra (asteroid)
4877 Humboldt (asteroid)

=== Geological objects ===
The mineral humboldtine was named for Alexander by Mariano de Rivero in 1821.

=== Universities, colleges, and schools ===

==== Universities ====
Humboldt University of Berlin is named after Alexander and his brother Wilhelm who founded it
Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in Bogotá and Villa de Leiva, Colombia
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California
Universidad Alejandro de Humboldt in Caracas, Venezuela
Instituto de Medicina Tropical Alexander von Humboldt (IMTAvH), a tropical medicine institute at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru

==== Schools ====

Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium, Konstanz, Germany
Alexander von Humboldt German International School Montreal, Montreal, Canada
Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt, Mexico City, Mexico
Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt, Lima, Peru
Colegio Humboldt, Caracas, Venezuela
Humboldt Senior High School, St. Paul, Minnesota

=== Lecture series ===
Alexander von Humboldt also lends his name to a prominent lecture series in Human geography in the Netherlands (hosted by the Radboud University Nijmegen). It is the Dutch equivalent of the widely known annual Hettner lectures at the University of Heidelberg.

=== The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation ===
After his death, Humboldt's friends and colleagues created the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Stiftung in German) to continue his generous support of young academics. Although the original endowment was lost in the German hyperinflation of the 1920s, and again as a result of World War II, the Foundation has been re-endowed by the German government to award young academics and distinguished senior academics from abroad. It plays an important role in attracting foreign researchers to work in Germany and enabling German researchers to work abroad for a period.

=== Dedications ===
Edgar Allan Poe dedicated his last major work, Eureka: A Prose Poem, to Humboldt, "With Very Profound Respect". Humboldt's attempt to unify the sciences in his Kosmos was a major inspiration for Poe's project.
In 2019, Josefina Benedetti composed Humboldt an Orchestral Suite in five movements.