Universal scholar and scamp - amusing episodes about Alexander von Humboldt. Alexander von Humboldt, the Prussian nobleman who despised aristocratic pretensions, was driven by an insatiable thirst for research and discovery. He navigated through mining tunnels in Prussia and the jungles of the Amazon, measured the temperature of ocean currents, and determined the blueness of the sky, climbed mountains and volcanoes like Chimborazo and Pichincha, participated in daring expeditions, and covered tens of thousands of kilometers in ships, on mules, horses, in carriages, and on foot over nearly nine decades of his life. He was a scientist and author of immense scope, a brilliant speaker, a gifted networker, a critic of slavery, a visionary of globalization, and one of the most famous scholars of his time - a force of nature, an event. And: He was a trickster, a scoffer, a scamp. Allegedly, some of his contemporaries would not leave an evening gathering as long as Alexander von Humboldt was present, for they did not want to risk being ridiculed after their departure. "My friend Humboldt," said physicist François Arago, "has the best heart in the world, but also the biggest mouth I know." This did not diminish his recognition; during his lifetime, he was admired as a "second Columbus," as the "Aristotle of modern times." Berlin later honored the naturalist, explorer, and first representative of a globalized science by naming the Humboldt University and the Humboldt Forum after him (along with his brother).