Indigenous cultures in the area had been using the guano on these islands as a source of fertilizer for hundreds of years, so von Humboldt definitely didn't discover guano.
Scientists at Emory University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of North Carolina were the ones who figured out the drug could muck up the virus's ability to make copies of itself.
On world maps beginning in 1506, he was credited with the discovery of the Americas and that's why the continents bear the feminine version of his name.
Matthew kicked up in a lively manner, with a letter to Gardener's Chronicle, when he saw Darwin gaining credit everywhere for an idea that really was his.