Alexander von Humboldt

Alexander's father, Major Alexander Georg von Humboldt, was an officer in the Army of Frederick the Great. After becoming wounded in the 1761 Silesian war, Alexander Georg served the court in Berlin; this is when he married Marie Elisabeth von Holwede, a widow, and had three children-- a daughter that died at a young age; Wilhelm, born June 22, 1767 and Alexander, born September 14, 1769. When Alexander was ten, his father died, leaving his mother to care for the two children. Alexander's mother was described as an unemotional woman who showed little love to her children; however, she strove to secure her children with the best possible education of the day; the wealth of the Humboldt family made this possible. Undoubtedly, Alexander's lifetime devotion to the sciences and his persistent nature were due to the self-sufficiency he adopted in such a home environment.
Both Alexander and Wilhelm were educated by tutors, as was customary for wealthy families of the day. It was made clear by their mother that the Humboldt boys would enter into one of two professions-- either a commission in the army, or a position in the civil service. Since both boys showed an aptitude for learning, their curriculum was geared towards civil service. Many tutors influenced the Humboldt boys; the most influential was Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth, who was in charge of the boys education. Kunth chose tutors for the boys, most of whom were the premiere scholars of their fields. Their entire curriculum was heavily influenced by the "Berlin Enlightenment," led by Moses Mendelssohn.
The Enlightenment influenced Alexander and his brother heavily-- the sciences profited from this awakening to a great degree, and Alexander perceived these new ideas as unlocking the scientific potential of the human mind. The center of Alexander's Enlightenment education was the Berlin Salons, a construct of the Jewish community, in which discussion circles took place. These salons were unique in the history of German intellectualism, because they transcended traditional class barriers and brought together many types of people. Alexander's contact with Enlightenment philosophy through these Berlin salons, as well as the Jewish community, created a spirit devoted lifelong to the freedom and equality of all men; as well it focused his attention from broad studies to the natural sciences. From October of 1787 through March of 1788, Alexander attended his first university semester at Frankfurt on the Oder, with his brother. The university did not have a great reputation, but Alexander's mother sent her children their to live with and study under their previous tutor Professor Loffler. Alexander did not find much to get excited about at Frankfurt, and he returned to Berlin for his next academic year. It was in Berlin that Alexander began his friendship with the Carl Ludwig Willdenow, an expert in the field of botany. Willdenow was responsible for encouraging Alexander to study plant distributions, which was to become the subject of Alexander's main scientific work.