Arnold Escher from Linth

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Portrait with geologist's hammer, ca.1870
Arnold Escher (left) with his colleagues Peter Merian , professor for physics, chemistry, geology and paleontology in Basel and Oswald Heer , professor for natural sciences in Zurich

Arnold Escher von der Linth (born June 8, 1807 in Zurich ; † July 12, 1872 there ; until 1823 only: Arnold Escher ) was a Swiss geologist .

Life

Arnold Escher grew up in Zurich as the only son of the Swiss State Councilor and geologist Hans Konrad Escher . After the death of his father in 1823, the Zurich Government Council decided to give him and his male descendants the honorary name Escher von der Linth in his honor - a federal commemorative coin was minted for this event.

Commemorative coin in honor of Arnold's father, J. Konrad Escher von der Linth (minted in 1823 )

Arnold Escher studied from 1825 to 1829 at various universities, including the Federal Central Military School in Thun , the universities in Geneva (1825-1827) and Berlin (1827-1828, mineralogy with Gustav Rose ) and went on a subsequent study trip through Germany , Austria and Northern Italy. Another study trip took him 1830-1832 together with the Berlin geologist Friedrich Hoffmann through Italy to Sicily.

On March 15, 1834, he qualified as a private lecturer and in 1852 became a professor at the University of Zurich . From 1856–1872 he was professor ( full professor ) for geology at the newly created Polytechnic Zurich (today ETH Zurich , as a double professorship).

Escher married Maria Barbara Ursula von Latour (1807–1863) in 1857, the sister of his college friend, the school councilor and district judge Alois de Latour (1815–1875). Arnold Escher died on December 7, 1872 and is buried in the Hohe Promenade private cemetery in Zurich.

Services

Arnold Escher created a large number of detailed geological maps of the Swiss Alps and, along with Bernhard Studer and Peter Merian (1795–1883), is considered to be the forefather of Swiss Alpine geology. With his friend and closest colleague Bernhard Studer, he published the first geological map of Switzerland. Escher was the first to describe the ballast of the Albis and called it Nagelfluh . As early as 1841, Escher recognized the mechanical deformation of the rocks and the formation of folds in the mountains and thus laid the basis for understanding Alpine thrust tectonics and ultimately plate tectonics . Together with his colleague, the palaeontologist and botanist Oswald Heer , he led excursions to the Alps from 1855 to 1870, which were very popular among students.

In addition to his teaching and research activities, he worked as a geotechnical expert for cantonal authorities and the Confederation: in the Federal Central Aid Committee (1868), SGG and Central Comité (1834). The Escherwald near Morissen ( Canton of Graubünden , Switzerland) dates back to an Arnold Escher foundation around 1874.

Arnold Escher received an honorary doctorate from the University of Zurich and was elected a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences (1854) and the Geological Society of London .

He was the first to climb the Lauteraarhorn on August 8, 1842.

The three-thousand-meter peak at the origin of the Unteraar glacier was named Escherhorn after him.

The Linth-Escher Foundation is named after Arnold's father, Hans Conrad.

Fonts

  • Explanation of the views of some contact relationships between crystalline feldspar rocks and limestone in the Bernese Oberlande (1839), Neuchâtel, 14 pp.
  • Geological description of Mittelbünden (1839, with B. Studer). New memoranda of the Swiss Natural Research Society ; Georg, Basel, 218 p. Doi : 10.3931 / e-rara-10402
  • Geological remarks on northern Vorarlberg and some neighboring areas (1853). Zurich, 135 pp.
  • Geological overview map of Switzerland 1: 760 000: Reduction of the larger geolog. Map of Switzerland by B. Studer u. A. Escher (1855, with B. Studer). Publishing house d. topogr. Institution v. J. Wurster & Randegger & Cie., Winterthur.
  • Geological plan of Zurich and the surrounding area 1:10 000 1871. Naturforschende Gesellschaft Zurich, Verlag d. topogr. Institution v. J. Wurster & Randegger & Cie., Winterthur.
  • Geological map of the Sentis 1:25 000 (1873). Publishing house d. topogr. Institution v. J. Wurster & Randegger & Cie., Winterthur.
  • Geological description of the Sentis group: Text on the special map of the Sentis (1878). Contributions to the geological map of Switzerland 13 ; In Commission at J. Dalp, Bern, 260 pp.
  • Digitized works by Arnold Escher von der Linth in e-rara.ch

Many of his findings have been preserved in the form of his diaries.

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Member entry by Arnold Escher von der Linth (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 3, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Escher von der Linth, Arnold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Escher, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss geologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 1872
Place of death Zurich