Andrea Wulf

This article is about the historian Andrea Wulf. For the activist Andrea Wolf, see Andrea Wolf.

Andrea Wulf
Andrea Wulf at Frankfurt Book Fair, 2022
Andrea Wulf at Frankfurt Book Fair, 2022
Born1967
New Delhi, India
OccupationWriter
GenreNon-fiction
Notable worksThe Brother Gardeners, This Other Eden, Founding Gardeners, Chasing Venus, The Invention of Nature: Alexander Humboldt's New World

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, India, a child of German developmental aid workers, and spent the first five years of her life there, then grew up in Hamburg.[1] She studied first at the University of Lüneburg, and then design history at The Royal College of Art, London.

Wulf is a public speaker, delivering lectures in the UK and USA. She was the guest speaker at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Her book The Brother Gardeners was long-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize[2] and received a CBHL Annual Literature Award in 2010.[3] In 2016, she won the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize[4][5] and the Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award for her book The Invention of Nature.[6]

She was a judge for the 2023 Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction.[7]

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 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.[8]

The Invention of Nature

Main article: 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. 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, ISBN 9780316725804[9]
  • The Brother Gardeners: A Generation of Gentlemen Naturalists and the Birth of an Obsession, Vintage Books, 2008, ISBN 9780307454751[10][11]
  • Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation, Knopf Doubleday, 2012, ISBN 9780307390684[12]
  • Chasing Venus: the Race to Measure the Heavens (2012) ISBN 9780307958617[13]
  • The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World, Knopf, 2015, ISBN 9781848548985
  • The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, Pantheon, 2019 (co-authored with Lillian Melcher - illustrator) ISBN 9781524747374
  • Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self, Knopf, 2022, ISBN 9780525657118

References

  1. ^ "A conversation with 'Founding Gardeners' author Andrea Wulf". Washington Post. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  2. ^ "Samuel Johnson Prize Latest News". 13 February 2012. Archived from the original on 13 February 2012. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  3. ^ "2010 Annual CBHL Literature Award [Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries]". 8 July 2010. Archived from the original on 8 July 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2019.
  4. ^ Flood, Alison (19 September 2016). "Alexander von Humboldt biography wins Royal Society science book prize". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 December 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
  5. ^ "The Royal Society announces the winner of the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize 2016". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 22 September 2016.
  6. ^ "2016 medals and awards recipients announced". Royal Geographical Society. Archived from the original on 26 September 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. ^ Creamer, Ella (8 October 2023). "Music, history and courageous journalism: Baillie Gifford prize shortlist announced". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  8. ^ A. Wulf. Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens. NY: Knopf, 2012
  9. ^ Sinclair, Jill (26 November 2005). "Review: The New Garden Paradise and This Other Eden". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 December 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
  10. ^ Cocker, Mark (9 May 2008). "Review: The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 December 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
  11. ^ "The pioneer plant hunters". 12 April 2008. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 December 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  12. ^ Seymour, Miranda (25 February 2011). "The Founding Gardeners: How the Revolutionary Generation Created an American Eden by Andrea Wulf: review". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 December 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  13. ^ Payne, Tom (18 June 2012). "Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens by Andrea Wulf: review". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 8 December 2019 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.