Celebrating the 250ties birthday of Alexander von Humboldt at Goethe Institut in Lima

The German Embassy in Lima, Peru, had invited Prof. Matthias Wolff from ZMT Bremen, working in the Humboldt Tipping Project, to give a conference talk within the series of talks that the Goethe Institute organized in Lima to celebrate the 250ties birthday of Alexander von Humboldt from Sept. 22-28, 2019.

The event was scheduled for September 25, in the Goethe Institute in Lima. Dr. Renato Guevara, the scientific director of IMARPE and Humboldt-Tipping- colleague, started with a talk entitled "The sea that Humboldt measured-the ecosystem off the Peruvian coast" followed by Wolff´s  talk entitled "Alexander von Humboldt in the current scientific discourse".

While Guevara focused on the description of the Peruvian ecosystem and how Humboldt got to know and measure the water temperatures, Wolff discussed questions related to the scientific work and societal impact that von Humboldt had during his times and beyond, reflecting on hypothetical recommendations that he would give to young scientists if he would still be alive.

A remarkable audience consisting of students, IMARPE colleagues, ambassadors, members of the Goethe Institute and many other interested people had shown up to enjoy this two hours event reflected in a lively discussion afterwards. It became quite evident that Alexander von Humboldt and his remarkable scientific work continues to be of great interest to many Peruvians and those working around Peruvian coasts.

In the morning of the next day, an homage for Alexander von Humboldt was celebrated through a visit and reception at the research vessel 'Humboldt' in Callao. The German Ambassador and his group, Prof. Matthias Wolff and the IMARPE director  Dr. Renato Guevara and his staff participated. Besides several presentations given by the captain, the IMARPE director and the ambassador, a medal was handed over to the IMARPE director by the ambassador in memory of Alexander von Humboldt and the fruitful collaboration in marine research between Germany and Peru over the past decades. The Humboldt Tipping Project was mentioned as an important current collaboration project.