He started studying medicine at the Dorpat University in 1819, but became fascinated with Moritz von Engelhardt's teaching and became a student of geology and mineralogy.

[3] From 1823 to 1826, Hofmann circumnavigated the world with Otto von Kotzebue and other young students, including Emil Lenz.

They dropped anchor in Portsmouth on 25 August and departed on 11 September, heading for Rio de Janeiro, which they docked into on 2 November.

It was there where they received word from Matvey Muravyev, chief manager of the Russian-American Company, that they wouldn't be needed until 1 March of next year, when trading season began.

The ship left the city on 11 August and headed for Honolulu, where they stopped for four days before moving to the Marshall Islands on 19 September.

They passed the Sunda Strait on 25 January and ventured through the Indian Ocean, rounding the Cape of Good Hope on 16 March and arriving at Saint Helena eleven days later.

[6] Hofmann later recorded his geological findings in his article, "Geognostische Beobachtungen auf einer Reise um die Welt in den Jahren 1823-26" (English: Geognostic observations on a trip around the world in the years 1823-26).

[3] With Gregor von Helmersen, Hofmann travelled to the Southern Ural region in 1828, by request of Georg Ludwig Cancrin, the Minister of Finance.

[7] In 1831, they published "Geognostische Untersuchung der Süd-Uralgebirges" (English: Geognostic study of the southern Ural Mountains) in Berlin.

[3] While in Europe with Helmersen, Hofmann travelled to Saxony, Bohemia, the Harz, Austria, Northern Italy, Switzerland, and the Rhineland and met such figures as Gustav Rose and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg.

In 1843, he conducted studies in Eastern Siberia and researched the gold-bearing placer deposits and collected information on its geology, vegetation, fauna, and ethnography.

He created maps and recorded geological details of different areas in the region, for example, in 1857, during an expedition, he surveyed Mountain Kachkanar.