--- title: "How Humboldt founded climate research" description: "The University of Bern publishes Alexander von Humboldt’s writings on climate in one volume for the first time, with commentary on the pioneer of climatology." url: https://unibefoundation.ch/en/news/how-humboldt-founded-climate-research updated: 2026-09-16 --- # How Humboldt founded climate research > The University of Bern publishes Alexander von Humboldt’s writings on climate in one volume for the first time, with commentary on the pioneer of climatology. News 19. July 2023 # How Humboldt founded climate research **Alexander von Humboldt was a pioneer of climate research. On his travels to the Americas (1799–1804) and Asia (1829), he carried out meteorological measurements that enabled him to develop a modern, holistic model of the Earth’s climate. In doing so, Humboldt founded comparative climatology. Humboldt’s writings on climate have now been collected and published at the University of Bern, with commentary from the perspectives of the history of knowledge and climatology.** *Read the original media release* [*here*](https://mediarelations.unibe.ch/medienmitteilungen/2023/medienmitteilungen_2023/wie_humboldt_die_klimaforschung_begruendete/index_ger.html)*.* (in German) Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) contributed research to 30 disciplines, much of which remains valid to this day. In addition to his books, he published 750 essays, [which were published at the University of Bern in 2019](https://www.unibe.ch/aktuell/medien/media_relations/medienmitteilungen/2019/medienmitteilungen_2019/die_ganze_welt_in_tausend_essays/index_ger.html) (*Sämtliche Schriften* in 10 volumes). One discipline that Humboldt shaped lastingly is climate science. For the first time, Humboldt’s writings on climate have now been collected, edited according to philological standards and published with extensive commentary in a single volume. They were edited by Thomas Nehrlich and Michael Strobl of the Institute of Germanic Studies at the University of Bern, with commentary by Stefan Brönnimann of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern and Martin Claussen, emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg. “Humboldt is regarded as a pioneer of ecological thinking and as the founder of comparative climatology,” explains Thomas Nehrlich. “Through our Bern edition of the *Sämtliche Schriften*, we have gained an overview of Humboldt’s research contributions. In addition to his great journeys to the Americas and Central Asia, he evaluated numerous other meteorological, geographical and oceanographic data. Humboldt’s climate research is interdisciplinary and global.” Michael Strobl adds: “Humboldt was one of the first to recognise the Earth’s climate as a complex system. However, he did not summarise his findings in a book, but in his essays.” Published by Wehrhahn Verlag, the edition brings together Humboldt’s most important writings on climate from 1795 to 1847 for the first time. ## **From the Humboldt Current to isothermal lines** [\#](#from-the-humboldt-current-to-isothermal-lines "Direct link to From the Humboldt Current to isothermal lines") As a climatological research biography, the edition presents Humboldt as a theorist and empiricist of interdisciplinary climate research that takes into account the interactions between geological, biological and anthropological processes. Humboldt’s contributions deal with atmospheric chemistry in mining, the distribution of heat on Earth, the propagation of sound at night, the temperature of raindrops, an aurora in Berlin and the conditions for viticulture. Humboldt compared the snow lines of the Andes, the Himalayas and the Alps. He measured the temperature of the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Baltic Sea. He studied the climate of Spain and Central Asia. Humboldt described a cold-water current off the west coast of South America – the “Humboldt Current” named after him. He developed the infographic concept of “isothermal lines” (zones of equal average temperature), which is familiar today from every weather report. ## **Still relevant today** [\#](#still-relevant-today "Direct link to Still relevant today") A comprehensive afterword by Michael Strobl explains Humboldt’s decades-long engagement with climatological questions*.* “Humboldt recognised early on that humans influence the climate through their interventions in the environment,” says Strobl. A foreword by the climatologists Stefan Brönnimann and Martin Claussen places his work in a present-day context. “Atmospheric chemistry and physics, glacier limits, ocean currents, vegetation belts, temperature layers and climate zones – Humboldt already knew about all of these, and he co-founded much of the research on them,” says Stefan Brönnimann. Martin Claussen explains: “Besides his enormous breadth, we are impressed by Humboldt’s precise observations, his innovative conclusions and his holistic view of the climate, which always includes human beings. As both a theorist and an empiricist, he created an important foundation for today’s climate science.” Brönnimann’s conclusion on Humboldt’s research achievement: “Humboldt’s definition of the elements and factors that make up the climate is still relevant today.” ### About the book [\#](#about-the-book "Direct link to About the book") Alexander von Humboldt: *Ueber die Hauptursachen der Temperatur-Verschiedenheit auf dem Erdkörper. Schriften zum Klima*, with a foreword by Stefan Brönnimann and Martin Claussen, edited by Thomas Nehrlich and Michael Strobl, Hanover: Wehrhahn 2023. 460 pages with numerous illustrations. ISBN: 978-3-86525-990-5. [Further information and reading sample](https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID_Section=2&ID_Product=1543) (in German) ### About the editors [\#](#about-the-editors "Direct link to About the editors") Thomas Nehrlich and Michael Strobl hold doctorates in literary studies and are textual scholars at the [Institute of Germanic Studies](https://www.germanistik.unibe.ch/index_ger.html) at the University of Bern. Together with Oliver Lubrich, Thomas Nehrlich edited Alexander von Humboldt’s *Sämtliche Schriften* ([in ten volumes in 2019](https://www.unibe.ch/aktuell/medien/media_relations/medienmitteilungen/2019/medienmitteilungen_2019/die_ganze_welt_in_tausend_essays/index_ger.html) with dtv, Munich; [online in 2021](https://www.unibe.ch/aktuell/medien/media_relations/medienmitteilungen/2021/medienmitteilungen_2021/alexander_von_humboldt_geht_online/index_ger.html): humboldt.unibe.ch/text). His most recent book: Alexander von Humboldt Berlin 1830–1835. Eine Publikationsbiographie, Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2021 (). Michael Strobl is the editor of several volumes of Alexander von Humboldt’s *Sämtliche Schriften*. In his doctoral thesis, he studied, among other things, the Berlin Diary of the US correspondent William L. Shirer from 1934 to 1940: William L. Shirers Werk über NS-Deutschland. Ein Zeitzeuge als Autor, Darmstadt: WBG 2021. ### About the authors of the foreword [\#](#about-the-authors-of-the-foreword "Direct link to About the authors of the foreword") Stefan Brönnimann is Professor of Climatology at the [Institute of Geography](https://www.geography.unibe.ch/index_ger.html)and Head of Climatology at the [Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research](https://www.oeschger.unibe.ch/index_ger.html) at the University of Bern. He studies past climate variability and present-day urban heat. The history of science repeatedly leads him to interdisciplinary collaboration. Martin Claussen is emeritus director at the [Max Planck Institute for Meteorology](https://mpimet.mpg.de/startseite) and Professor of Meteorology at the [University of Hamburg](https://www.uni-hamburg.de/campuscenter/studienangebot/studiengang.html?1028721610). His interests include climate system modelling and the interaction between vegetation and climate. 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