Alexander von Humboldt, introduced at an early age by his tutor to a group of learned intellectuals including the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, attends the University of Gottingen, where he studies archaeology, physics, and philosophy from 1789.

Here, he meets Georg Forster, recently returned from his voyage around the world with Captain Cook, a meeting which serves to heighten Humboldt’s already keen interest in botany and exploration.

In the summer of 1790 he pays a short visit to England in the company of Forster.

Humboldt leaves Gottingen in 1790 to study geology under A. G. Werner at the school of mines in Freiburg.