Felix Karrer

Felix Karrer (born March 11, 1825 in Venice , † April 19, 1903 in Vienna ) was an Austrian geologist who created essential collection bases for technical rock science in Vienna.

Life

Felix Karrer initially studied law and between 1847 and 1857 worked as a civil servant in the Imperial and Royal War Ministry. Out of interest, however, he turned to geological questions.
As a volunteer at the kk Hof-Mineralien-Cabinet , Karrer was strongly influenced by the curator-adjunct Eduard Sueß , who gave his first palaeontological lectures in Vienna in 1857 . Due to Sueß 'influence he took an ever increasing part in the geological explorations in the vicinity of Vienna. He had in him an extraordinarily versatile interested teacher who ultimately represented the leading figure of the geological school of Vienna. Since the beginning of his geoscientific career he has dealt with the foraminifera in the deposits of the Vienna Basin , which later earned him great recognition.

On March 11, 1877, Felix Karrer presented his highly acclaimed journalistic work Geology of Emperor Franz Josef's High Spring Water Pipe to the public in Vienna . This work received a lot of attention because the already great engineering performance of this powerful water supply system was exemplary for a large city in the 19th century. As a geologist, he had accompanied extensive development work before the construction of the aqueduct.

In 1878 Felix Karrer gave a lecture to the Scientific Club of Vienna with the title On the submerged animal world in the building materials of Vienna . Although conceived from a paleontological point of view, its appearance is to be seen as a decisive turning point for the collection and research activities on building and decorative stone in the former Austria-Hungary .
First, with the help of numerous supporters, he collected building stones from the city of Vienna. He then expanded the collection area to include the capitals of the Austro-Hungarian crown lands and the Kingdom of Hungary . Around 1890 the collection comprised around 7,000 individual samples. Among them are 2,000 copies, which the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects presented to the Imperial and Royal Natural History Court Museum in 1883 to support the collection project. This collection was created in 1863 and has now grown steadily. Another milestone for this collection is his lecture given on February 22nd, 1886 in the Scientific Club of Vienna with the title Monumental Buildings in Vienna and their Building Materials . It then received significant public attention and support.

Catalog of the building stone collection

In 1891 the kk Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum (now the Natural History Museum Vienna ) published a first special catalog for its visitors on part of its collections, the guide to the building material collection of the kk Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum . In his foreword, Karrer's unusual work was honored by the director of the mineralogical department at the Imperial and Royal Natural History Court Museum , Aristides Brezina. Karrer himself was responsible for all further texts in the explanations of this guide. Today he is considered to be the founder of this globally significant building and decorative stone collection.

Felix Karrer's achievements in popularizing and systematising building and decorative stones are continued today in the diverse cultural geological research and can be seen as a decisive initiating contribution.

Works

• Geology of the Emperor Franz Josef's high spring aqueduct . Treatises of the Imperial Geological Institute, Vol. IX, Vienna, 1877
• The soil of the capitals of Europe. Geological study . Vienna (Alfred Hölder) 1881
• Guide to the building material collection of the Imperial and Royal Court Museum in Vienna . 2 parts, Vienna (R. Lechner) 1892

literature

• Karrer Felix. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 3, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1965, p. 249.
• Johannes Seidl / Franz Pertlik: Eduard Sueß as an academic teacher . A synopsis of the dissertations written under his guidance. [1]
• Felix Karrer: Guide through the building material collection of the Imperial and Royal Natural History Court Museum in Vienna . 2 parts, Vienna (R. Lechner) 1892

Web links

• Vienna high spring water pipes ( Memento from December 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )