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Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Alexander von Humboldt
Edited by Edward Sabine
SeriesCosmos 2 Volume Paperback Set
Series part Volume No. Volume 2
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:514
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 29
Category/GenreCosmology and the universe
ISBN/Barcode 9781108013642
ClassificationsDewey:523.1
Audience
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Illustrations Worked examples or Exercises

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 10 June 2010
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Polymath Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), a self-described 'scientific traveller', was one of the most respected scientists of his time. Humboldt's wanderlust led him across Europe and to South America, Mexico, the U.S. and Russia, and his voyages and observations resulted in the discovery of many species previously unknown to Europeans. Originating as lectures delivered in Berlin and Paris (1827-1828), his two-volume Cosmos: Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe (1845-1860) represented the culmination of his lifelong interest in understanding the physical world. As Humboldt writes, 'I ever desired to discern physical phenomena in their widest mutual connection, and to comprehend Nature as a whole, animated and moved by inward forces'. Volume 2 (1848) reviews poetic descriptions of nature as well as landscape painting from antiquity through to modernity, before using the same time-span to examine a 'History of the Physical Contemplation of the Universe'.