In the month of so many national days of countries on the American continent, one should not omit to mention the name of Alexander von Humboldt, best known for his exploration of Central and South America.

Moreover, his contributions to social sciences was so big that even Sofia city planners decided to name a street after him.

Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin, Germany in 1769. When he was only nine, his father, who was an army officer, died. So, young von Humboldt and his older brother Wilhelm were raised by their mother at the Tegel Palace, the Humboldt family property. Tutors provided their early education, which focused on languages and mathematics.

The Humboldt brothers registered at the University of Frankfurt (Oder) in 1787. They moved to Gottingen a year later but in 1790, they went their separate ways.

Once he was old enough, von Humboldt started studying at the Freiberg Academy of Mines. Von Humboldt met George Forester, Captain James Cook's scientific illustrator from his second voyage, and they hiked around Europe. In 1792, at the age of 22, von Humboldt began a job as a government mines inspector in Franconia, Prussia.

Five years later, his mother died and left him a substantial income from the estate. The following year, he left government service and began to plan travels with botanist Aime Bonpland. The two went to Madrid and obtained special permission and passports from King Charles II to explore South America.

In 1799, von Humboldt and Bonpland set out on a long research journey through South America, from which they did not return until 1804.

Once they arrived in South America, von Humboldt and Bonpland studied the flora, fauna, and topography of the continent. In 1800, he mapped over 1,700 miles of the Orinoco River. This was followed by a trip to the Andes and an ascent of Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador.

While on the west coast of South America, von Humboldt measured and discovered the Peruvian Current, which, over the objections of Alexander himself, is also known as the Humboldt Current. In 1803, they explored Mexico. Von Humboldt was offered a position in the Mexican cabinet, which he declined.

After they returned from the journey, the two explorers were invited to Washington DC where they stayed for three weeks. Von Humboldt had many meetings with Thomas Jefferson and the two became good friends.

During his expeditions in the Americas and Europe, he recorded and reported on magnetic declination - the angle between magnetic north and true north at a particular location.

In 1804, the explorer sailed to Paris and wrote thirty volumes about his field studies.

He stayed in France for 23 years and met with many other intellectuals on a regular basis. One of them was Simon Bolivar.

As a result of his many travels and the publishing of his reports, which he paid by himself, von Humboldt had exhausted most of his fortune. In 1827, he returned to Berlin where he obtained a steady income by becoming the King of Prussia's advisor.

After an invitation from the Russian tsar, von Humboldt explored the nation and described his discoveries. He also recommended that Russia establish weather observatories across the country. The stations were set up in 1835 and von Humboldt was able to use the data to develop the principle of continentality - that the interiors of continents have more extreme climates due to a lack of moderating influence from the ocean. At that time, he also developed the first isotherm map, which contained lines of equal average temperatures.

In 1827 and 1828, the scientist gave public lectures in Berlin, which were very popular. Over time, he decided to write everything known about the earth. He called his work Cosmos and the first volume was published in 1845, when he was 76 years old.

Cosmos was received extremely well by the public. The first volume, a general overview of the universe, sold out in two months and was promptly translated into many languages. Other volumes focused on topics such as humanity's efforts to describe the earth, astronomy, and earth and human interaction.

The final volume was published in 1862, three years after von Humboldt's death, and was based on his notes for the work.