An incredible journey documenting Alexander von Humboldt’s thoughts and how his interdisciplinary approach can impact current environmental issues, in particular climate change.

During a Campus Lecture on the International Women’s Day at EPFL, Gisou van der Goot interviewed Andrea Wulf about her book “The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World”.

This biography book about the naturalist, explorer and geographer Alexander von Humboldt synthesises the knowledge from different fields to form a vision of nature as one interconnected system.

Alexander von Humboldt’s writings influenced eminent scientists and thinkers like Charles Darwin and Henry David Thoreau and continues to inspire generations of scholars and activists from around the world.

Andrea Wulf is a British historian and writter of several acclaimed books.  “The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World” was on the New York Times Best Seller List 2015 and awarded by the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize in 2016.

Andrea Wulf has written for New York Times, the Atlantic, the LA Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian and many others. She has lectured across the world – from the Royal Geographical Society and Royal Society in London to Monticello and the New York Public Library in the US.

“The Invention of Nature” has won 15 international awards. It was selected by New York Times “10 Best Books of 2015” and has been published in 28 countries. It has been on Germany’s bestseller list for more than three years and has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide.