Alexander von Humboldt

Record year1802–1826 (materials and editions still await item-by-item determination)

summaryHumboldt compared phenomena including plant forms, vegetation types, geographic location, and elevation, developing avenues of research in phytogeography and vegetation physiognomy. Bonpland, Kunth, herbaria, illustration/cartography, and local knowledge each had independent roles; different editions and specific data still await verification against the original texts.

M rationaleThe academy's digital edition makes explicit the program of vegetation physiognomy and interconnected nature, while bibliographies confirm that the 1807 work bore the names of Humboldt and Bonpland and was written and published by Humboldt; M6.0 is assigned. This item claims credit only for the theoretical and representational transformation of jointly collected expeditionary materials.

attribution rationaleHumboldt 0.36; Bonpland 0.15; Kunth 0.07; disciplinary prior work0.19; chart and publication teams0.08; institutions0.05; unresolved0.10.

overlap boundaryThe 1807 phytogeographical work bearing Bonpland's name, vegetation physiognomy, and a framework comparing biological distribution with elevation/climate/topography are treated as one family; original expeditionary collecting, individual taxonomic naming, and later development of general ecology are excluded.

Evidence gapsThe full text of 1807 and the Chimborazo diagram have not yet been read page by page; specific priority, diagram authorship, and the chain of local materials await calibration.

Record year1827–1859 (the first volume of Cosmos, 1845)

summaryThe physical-geography lectures of 1827–28 and Cosmos synthesized materials from natural science, geography, and the history of knowledge into public-facing writing and teaching; the first volume was published in 1845, and the final volume posthumously. The materials came from numerous scientific traditions and editorial/publishing labor, and cannot be treated as Humboldt's sole creation of all natural knowledge.

M rationaleThe national library specifies the number of lectures, stages of writing, and posthumous publication of the fifth volume, supporting an M5.7 outcome of synthesized dissemination; M comes from organization and expression, without duplicating the value of the individual scientific materials within it.

attribution rationaleHumboldt 0.39; disciplinary knowledge prior work0.27; production teams0.14; institutions0.08; unresolved0.12.

overlap boundaryThe physical-geography lectures of 1827 to 1828, 61 in number, and the synthetic writing of Cosmos from 1845 onward are treated as one dissemination-and-synthesis family; original travel data, specific phytogeographical/geomagnetic methods, and additions by posthumous editors are excluded.

Evidence gapsRepresentative lecture notes and the text of Cosmos are needed to distinguish his own synthesis from correspondence input, secretarial editing, and content in the posthumous fifth volume.

Record year1799–1804

summaryThe diaries, observations, measurements, and records of the American expedition from 1799 to 1804 were the material basis for Humboldt's subsequent travel writing and research. Aimé Bonpland and guides, interpreters, sailors, instrument makers, and holders of local knowledge participated; this item does not assign the entire expedition and all specimens to Humboldt alone.

M rationaleNational-library archives specify the expedition dates, Bonpland's participation, instruments, and the chain of travel diaries, supporting an M5.6 corpus of cross-domain observation; credit is not increased for expedition fame, route length, or the scale of later disciplines.

attribution rationaleHumboldt 0.30; Bonpland 0.18; unresolved local knowledge0.15; field teams0.10; methodological prior work0.13; technical teams0.06; institutions0.04; other unresolved0.04.

overlap boundaryThe diaries, measurements, specimen records, and interdisciplinary field corpus formed during the American expedition from 1799 to 1804; phytogeographical theory, the later synthesis in Cosmos, local knowledge itself, and the full value of the 29-volume publication are excluded.

Evidence gapsSpecific measurements, specimens, holders of local knowledge, and joint attribution need to be checked diary by diary.

Record year1800–1830s (observation and comparison chain)

summaryCross-location comparison of temperature and geomagnetic quantities connected repeated observations, instruments, data organization, and observatories into a physical-geography method. This item does not duplicate the existing shared accounting related to Gauss/Weber, nor does it attribute later global observing networks or geophysical achievements to Humboldt.

M rationaleThe Humboldt digital edition identifies a 1827 paper on the causes of temperature, joint geomagnetic measurements in 1826, and a corresponding-observations work of 1836, supporting an M5.2 family of comparative measurement methods. Since the existing account has already credited the Gauss/Weber geomagnetic-society service, this item does not claim the network outcome; nor does it state the unverified strong title ‘inventor of isotherms’.

attribution rationaleHumboldt 0.32; methodological prior work0.22; observers0.19; instrument and data teams0.09; institutions0.09; unresolved0.09.

overlap boundaryOnly cross-site research on the causes of temperature, geomagnetic inclination/intensity measurements, and corresponding-observation initiatives with published/archive records are counted; the 1836 to 1841 Resultate and atlas service of the Gauss/Weber geomagnetic society has already been accounted for by OUT-GAUSS-WEBER-MAGNETIC-SOCIETY-RESULTATE-ATLAS-SERVICE, and this item excludes its stations, data compilation, atlas, and service value. Phytogeographical maps, raw expeditionary corpus, and later global networks are also excluded.

Evidence gapsThe original texts of 1827, 1829, and 1836 and observatory correspondence need to be read to determine the data, collaborators, and scope of methodological uptake.

Record year1836–1841

M rationaleYears of coordinated observations, cross-site data, and atlases formed an ongoing professional service, rated M3.0. Stations, issues, tables, and plates are not scored separately; existing measurement methods and geomagnetic-field theory are not counted again in this entry.

attribution rationaleGauss had attributable theoretical and organizational roles in the magnetic network; Weber, Goldschmidt, the atlas authors, Humboldt, and unresolved work retain their respective or unallocated shares.