It must be verified if this picture is actually Wilhelm von Humboldt or his brother Baron Alexander von Humboldt. Wilhelm von 1767-1835, German philologist whose stress on the identity of thought and language influenced Noam Chomsky, was the brother of Frederich Heinrich Alexander, baron von 1769-1859. German botanist and geologist who, with the French botanist Aime Bonpland (1773-1858), explored the regions of the Orinoco and the Amazon rivers in South America 1800-04, and gathered 60,000 plant specimens. On his return, Humboldt devoted 21 years to writing an account of his travels.