August Breithaupt

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Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt (born May 18, 1791 in Probstzella , † September 22, 1873 in Freiberg ) was a German mineralogist .

Life

Representation on the "Werner Building" in Freiberg
Memorial plaque on his home in Freiberg

August Breithaupt was born in Probstzella near Saalfeld / Saale in 1791 . From 1809 to 1811 he studied at the University of Jena ; then he went to the Bergakademie Freiberg to continue his studies with Abraham Gottlob Werner . In Freiberg he joined the Landsmannschaft Montania in 1811, later the Corps Montania .

In 1813 he became a mineralogy teacher at the Freiberg Bergschule and head of the Bergakademie's collections. After Werner's death (1817), Breithaupt took over his mineralogy lectures until Friedrich Mohs replaced him in 1818.

When Mohs left Freiberg in 1826, August Breithaupt received the professorship for mineralogy, which he held until 1866.

In addition to his scientific work, Breithaupt promoted the mining of hard coal in the Zwickau area. Together with Carl Amandus Kühn and the bankers Carl and Gustav Harkort , he founded the Erzgebirgischer Steinkohlen-Aktienverein in 1840.

In 1849 August Breithaupt published his work The Paragenesis of Minerals . During his studies of the properties and occurrence of minerals, he had discovered that certain minerals occur repeatedly together. The foundation of the doctrine of paragenesis, which is of great importance for the history of deposits and mining , is considered to be his most important achievement as a scientist. In 1849 he was elected a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

He discovered and described over 40 new minerals. For the determination of crystal systems he introduced terms such as tetragonal , hexagonal and rhombic . He carried out about 4,500 density determinations.

August Breithaupt was a member of numerous scientific societies and received many honors. In 1853 he was named Bergrat and in 1863 Oberbergrat. Wilhelm Ritter von Haidinger named the mineral antimony nickel (NiSb) Breithauptit in 1859 . In 1863 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina Academic Academy and in 1864 a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1872, Breithaupt became an honorary citizen of the city of Zwickau . He was also a member of the Freemason lodge to the three mountains and their master of the chair .

In the last few years of his life he suffered from a severe eye condition that eventually made him blind . An eye operation in the summer of 1873 was unsuccessful. He died on September 22, 1873 in Freiberg, where a street in his honor bears his name.

Breithaupt was the father of the geologist Hermann Theodor Breithaupt and the uncle of the chemist Clemens Winkler .

Fonts

literature

  • C. Schiffner: From the life of old Freiberg mountain students. E. Maukisch, Freiberg 1935., pp. 27-29.
  • Hans Jürgen Rösler : August Breithaupt - his life and work . In: Problems of the paragenesis of minerals, elements and isotopes , part 1. - 1968. - pp. 9-25. - (Freiberg research books; C 230)
  • Friedrich August Breithaupt: 1791–1873; Professor of Mineralogy at the Bergakademie Freiberg; a bibliography of his publications / compiled by Sieglinde Hach. With an introduction by Martin Guntau . - Freiberg (Sachs.): Wiss. Bergakad information center. Freiberg, 1974.
  • Gisela-Ruth Engewald: Friedrich August Breithaupt (1791–1873): mineralogist and entrepreneur . In: Life and work of German geologists in the 18th and 19th centuries . - Leipzig: German publishing house for basic industry, 1984. - P. 210–246
  • Wilhelm von Gümbel :  Breithaupt, Joh. Friedr. August . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 3, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1876, pp. 292-294.
  • Bruno Sauer:  Breithaupt, Johann Friedrich August. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 577 ( digitized version ).
  • Cornu F .: A. Breithaupt, its importance for colloid chemistry and mineralogy . In: Journal of Chemistry and Industry of Colloids . 4, 1909, p. 300. doi : 10.1007 / BF01468181 .
  • Peter Lange: August Breithaupt (1791–1873) - almost forgotten in his homeland. In: Rudolstädter Heimathefte 46, Heft 5/6, pp. 111–115.

Web links

Wikisource: August Breithaupt  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ 100 years of Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention , p. 138.Bochum, 1963
  2. ↑ Member entry by August Breithaupt at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 7, 2016.
  3. ^ Member entry of Johann Friedrich August Breithaupt at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 7, 2016.
  4. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 49.
personal data
SURNAME Breithaupt, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Breithaupt, Johann Friedrich August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1791
PLACE OF BIRTH Probstzella
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 1873
Place of death Freiberg