Felix Wahnschaffe (geologist)

Gustav Albert Bruno Felix Wahnschaffe (born January 27, 1851 in Kaltendorf , Gardelegen district , † January 20, 1914 in Berlin ) was a German geologist and chairman of the German Geological Society .

Life

Felix Wahnschaffe, eldest son of the district judge Bruno Wahnschaffe, passed the Abitur in 1871 at the pedagogy of the monastery Our Dear Women Magdeburg and studied natural sciences, especially geology and chemistry, at the universities of Leipzig and Jena. In Leipzig he became a member of the Arminia fraternity , at the same time as the equally prominent geologist Arthur Wichmann . In 1875 he received his doctorate in Jena. phil. and was appointed assistant to the Prussian Geological State Institute .

In 1886 he became a state geologist and lecturer in general geology and soil science at the University of Berlin, and in 1892 a full professor at the Bergakademie Berlin . From 1903 until his death he headed the flat land mapping at the Prussian Geological State Institute, which was united with the Mining Academy, as department director. In 1880 he edited 28 sheets of the special geological maps GK 1: 25,000, mainly in the state of Brandenburg and in the province of Posen . In Saxony-Anhalt, this included the Havelberg sheet (1896).

His closest collaborators were Konrad Keilhack and Gottlieb Berendt (1836–1920). The names of this work team are associated with the first representation, description and designation of the glacial valleys and terminal moraines in northern Germany and today's Polish lowlands 1880–1920. In 1909, in the third edition of his book “The Surface Design of the North German Plain”, he referred to the Breslau-Magdeburg glacial valley for the first time .

Above all, Wahnschaffes, in his “Instructions for Scientific Soil Investigation” (1887), published the geologically founded view that all formations of the earth's crust should be regarded as rock , was of great importance for the following mappings, which were separated into a geological and an agronomic part. This work is important today and will be continued. By determining soil type (Grain Type), the geological formation (Diluvial-, alluvial, loess and residual soils), and by assessing the soil development a is ground estimate allows, expressed by the code for the Ertragsmeßzahl - a proven method for the uniform evaluation of soils the planned design of land use, taxation and compensation.

Wahnschaffe became chairman of the German Geological Society (DGG) in 1912 and was on the threshold of the 20th century in the field of soil science research as an authority and best expert on the North German / North European plains.

Felix Wahnschaffe's grave

His main concern was a generally understandable representation of geology, whereby with increasing age he increasingly promoted the endeavors of homeland security and gave numerous lectures in popular education associations. He collapsed while giving a lecture to the Havelländisches Heimatverein in January 1914 and died a few days later.

Felix Wahnschaffe's grave is located in Cemetery IV of the Jerusalems- und Neue Kirche community on Bergmannstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg . He rests there by the side of his wife Therese Wahnschaffe, née. Bach (1856-1931).

Honors and memberships

In 1888 Felix Wahnschaffe was elected a member of the Leopoldina .

The Leonhard-Frank-Straße in Berlin was called until 1962 Wahnschaffe road.

Fonts (selection)

Essays

• Quaternary on the northern edge of the Harz Mountains . In: Journal of the German Geological Society , Vol. 37 (1885), pp. 897-905 ISSN  0012-0189 .
• Glacial scratches on the culm formations of Magdeburg . In: Yearbook of the Royal Prussian State Geological Institute , Vol. 10 (1898).
• About the development of the Quaternary deposits exposed in the lignite opencast mines of Nachterstedt and Frose . In: Journal of the German Geological Society , Vol. 51 (1899) ISSN  0012-0189 .
• About the structure of the glacial formations in northern Germany and the position of the northern German edge raft . In: Zeitschrift für Gletscherkunde, for Ice Age Research and History of the Climate , 1911, pp. 321–338.

Monographs

• The Quaternary formations of the area around Magdeburg with special consideration of the Börde (treatises of the Royal Prussian Geological State Institute; vol. 7, no.1 ). Schropp Verlag, Berlin 1885.
• The surface design of the north German plains. Represented on a geological basis. (Research on German regional and folklore; Vol. VI, Issue 1). J. Engelhorn Verlag, Stuttgart, 3rd edition, 1909.
• Large erratic blocks in the north German plains (Geological Character Pictures; Vol. 2). Bornträger Verlag, Berlin 1910.
• The terminal moraines in the north German plains (Geological Character Pictures; Vol. 19). Bornträger Verlag, Berlin 1913.
• Geological landforms in Northern Germany . Engelhorn publishing house, Stuttgart 1924.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Death register StA Berlin III, No. 86/1914
2. ↑ Member entry of Felix Wahnschaffe at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on June 10, 2016.