Overview

Humboldt and Jefferson explores the relationship between two fascinating personalities: the Prussian explorer, scientist, and geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) and the American statesman, architect, and naturalist Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Following Humboldt’s famous expedition through the Spanish colonies, he visited the United States in the spring of 1804, where he met several times with then-president Jefferson. A warm and fruitful friendship resulted, and the two men corresponded a good deal over the years, speculating together on topics of mutual interest, including natural history, geography, and the formation of an international scientific network. Living in revolutionary societies, both were deeply concerned with the human condition, and each vested hope in the new American nation as a possible answer to many of the deficiencies characterizsing European societies at the time. The intellectual exchange of ideas and information between the two over the next twenty-one years touched on the pivotal events of those times, such as the independence movement in Latin America and the applicability of the democratic model to that region, the relationship between America and Europe, and the latest developments in scientific research and various technological projects. Humboldt and Jefferson explores the world in which these two Enlightenment figures lived and how their lives on opposite sides of the Atlantic defined their respective convictions.

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9780813935690

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In this vibrantly original work, Sandra Rebok explores the personal, scientific, and political exchanges of two of the titans of the Atlantic world in the late Enlightenment era. Drawing upon vast research across several fields of literature, she traces their shared passion for the exploration of the American continent, their thoughts on revolution and social change, and their mutual faith in the progress of science. While Jefferson and Humboldt's approaches to these questions occasionally diverged, their friendship remained secure, and Rebok brilliantly examines this complex relationship in the context of an Atlantic world struggling to reach consensus on the scientific and political implications of Enlightenment in a critical period of history.--James R. Sofka, author, Metternich, Jefferson, and the Enlightenment: Statecraft and Political Theory in the Early Nineteenth Century.

Author Information

Sandra Rebok is a postdoctoral research scholar at the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid, Spain and a Marie Curie Fellow at the Huntington Library, USA.

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