Andrea Wulf
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Andrea Wulf (born 1967) is a German-British historian and writer who has written books, newspaper articles and book reviews.


Biography

Wulf was born in
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, a child of German developmental aid workers, and spent the first five years of her life there, then grew up in
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
. She studied first at the University of Lüneburg, and then design history at The Royal College of Art,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Wulf is a public speaker, delivering lectures in the UK and USA. She was the guest speaker at the
Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomy, astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With ...
. Her book ''The Brother Gardeners'' was long-listed for the
Samuel Johnson Prize The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, formerly the Samuel Johnson Prize, is an annual British book prize for the best non-fiction writing in the English language. It was founded in 1999 following the demise of the NCR Book Award. With its m ...
and received a CBHL Annual Literature Award in 2010. In 2016, she won the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize and the
Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
's Ness Award for her book '' The Invention of Nature.'' She was a judge for the 2023 Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction.


''Chasing Venus: the Race to Measure the Heavens''

''Chasing Venus: the Race to Measure the Heavens'' (2012) is a non-fiction book about expeditions of scientists who set off around the world in 1761 and 1769 to collect data relating to the
transit of Venus A transit of Venus takes place when Venus passes directly between the Sun and the Earth (or any other superior planet), becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus is visible as ...
and thereby to measure and understand better the universe. The narrative style provides glimpses into the personalities of those involved, their aims and obsessions, their failures and discoveries, and provides the historic context of the period in the 18th century when modern-day scientifically accurate mapping and international scientific collaboration began.


''The Invention of Nature''

''The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World'' (2015) is a nonfiction book about the Prussian naturalist, explorer and geographer
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...
. Wulf makes the case that Humboldt synthesised knowledge from many different fields to form a vision of nature as one interconnected system, that would go on to influence scientists, activists and the public.


Books

* ''This Other Eden: Seven Great Gardens and 300 Years of English History'', Little, Brown, 2005, * ''The Brother Gardeners: A Generation of Gentlemen Naturalists and the Birth of an Obsession'', Vintage Books, 2008, * ''Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation'', Knopf Doubleday, 2012, * ''Chasing Venus: the Race to Measure the Heavens'' (2012) * '' The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World'', Knopf, 2015, * ''The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt'', Pantheon, 2019 (co-authored with Lillian Melcher - illustrator) * ''Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self'', Knopf, 2022,


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wulf, Andrea 1967 births Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Art English biographers English women non-fiction writers British women biographers Historians of science People from New Delhi