Eduard Greppin

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Eduard Greppin (born September 28, 1856 in Delsberg , † June 14, 1927 ) was a Swiss chemist , paleontologist and geologist .

Life

Greppin was the son of Jean-Baptiste Greppin and was introduced to nature observation by him. After the early death of his mother, the father moved to Basel in 1867 to train his sons. Greppin studied chemistry in Basel and at the ETH Zurich , graduating in 1878. Then he was a chemist at Lyon & Cie. in Hüningen and from 1887 until his retirement in 1917 with JR Geigy in Basel.

In addition, he dealt with geology and paleontology, in particular with Jurassic fossils from the Swiss Jura . In addition, he published three monographs from 1888 to 1900 in the treatises of the Swiss Natural Research Society. One concerned the main roe stone in the Basel area, which was considered to be low in fossils, but in which he was able to distinguish 154 species of gastropods and other small fossil remains over years of work , 30 of which were new species. A second monograph concerned the molluscs of the St. Verena strata ( Oberbuchsiten , Laupersdorf ), which are important for Jura stratigraphy , and which contained coral fossils. He supported the then new and controversial thesis of Louis Rollier that they did not correspond to the upper Rauracien in the Bernese Jura, as was usually assumed until then, but to the younger Upper Sequania (this meant that the Oxfordton was 2 km away from 30 m 10 to 20 cm wedged). The third publication concerned the stratigraphy and fauna of the upper Bajacien in the Basel area. For these publications he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Basel in 1899. He did not get any further major work, but advised other geologists in his field and generously passed on his knowledge.

In 1898 he became a member of the commission of the Museum für Naturkunde in Basel and took over the administration of the collection for the extra-alpine Mesozoic era . With his friend Andreas Gutzwiller he worked on the geological maps 1: 25,000 of the Basel area (like Gutzwiller he worked for this free of charge, which also applied to many of the former employees on geological mapping of Switzerland), especially the sheets Blauen, Muttenz, Gempen. He advised the United Swiss Rhine Saltworks as an expert and was an expert for the water supply of Olten .

In 1924 he suffered a collapse in health and died of a stroke in 1927 six months after the death of his partner.

For many years he passed on his knowledge to young geologists and paleontologists, for which he sacrificed his lunch breaks. Friedrich von Huene , whom Greppin introduced to palaeontology, was one of his students in Basel .

He was a co-founder of the Swiss Geological and Paleontological Society.

His brother Leopold Greppin was director of the Solothurn psychiatric institution in Rosegg. His maternal grandfather was the cartographer and Colonel Antoine Joseph Buchwalder, who worked for Guillaume Henri Dufour on the topographic map of Switzerland .

literature

  • Obituary by HG Stehlin in the negotiations of the Swiss Natural Research Society, Volume 110, 1929, pp. 15ff, pdf
  • Hansjörg Schmassmann: History of geological research in the Basel area 1900–1949, activity report of the Natural Research Society Baselland, Volume 18, 1948/49, p. 44 (with photo)

Fonts

  • Description of the fossiles de la Grande Oolithe des environs de Bâle, negoti. Switzerland. Paläontolog Ges., Volume 15, 1888
  • The Dogger of the area around Basel, report on the 25th meeting of the Upper Rhine Geological Association in Basel, 1892
  • Etudes sur les mollusques des couches coralligènes des environs d'Oberbuchsiten, negot. Switzerland. Paläontolog Ges., Volume 20, 1895
  • Description des fossiles du Bajocien supérieur, des environs de Bâle, 3 parts, negoti. Switzerland. Paläontolog Ges., Volume 25, 1898, Volume 26, 1899, Volume 27, 1900
  • About the parallelism of the Malmschichten in the Jura Mountains, Verh. Naturf. Ges.Basel, 1900
  • Geological map of the Blauenberg south of Basel. Recorded in 1904 and 1905, contributions to the geolog. Map of Switzerland, Special Map No. 49, 1908.
  • Geological map of Basel. First part. Gempen plateau and lower Rirstal. Recorded by A. Gutzwiller (Diluvium and Tertiary) and Eduard Greppin (Jura, Triassic and Tectonics) 1910–1914, contributions to geolog. Map of Switzerland. Special card no.77, 1915
  • with A. Gutzwiller: Explanations for geolog. Map of Basel. First part. Gempen Plateau, 1916

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolf von Engelhardt, Helmut Hölder: Mineralogy, geology and paleontology at the University of Tübingen from the beginnings to the present, Tübingen: Mohr, 1977, p. 148
personal data
SURNAME Greppin, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss chemist, paleontologist and geologist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Delémont
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 1927