Friedrich Mohs
Carl Friedrich Christian Mohs (born January 29, 1773 in Gernrode (Harz) , † September 29, 1839 in Agordo , Italy ) was a German - Austrian mineralogist .
Mohs studied mathematics , physics and chemistry at the university in Halle (Saale) . At the Bergakademie Freiberg he completed his studies with the additional subject mechanics . One of his teachers in Freiberg was the mineralogist and geognostic Abraham Gottlob Werner , who introduced Mohs to his subjects. In 1801 Mohs became a pit foreman in Neudorf in the Harz region . In 1802 he came to Vienna for the first time to sort and annotate the stone collection of the banker JF van der Nüll.
In 1812 Mohs was appointed professor of mineralogy at the Joanneum in Graz . During this time he developed the Mohs hardness scale named after him . With his classification of minerals , which mainly focused on the physical properties (shape, hardness, brittleness, specific weight ) of his objects, Mohs found himself in opposition to most of his colleagues, who placed the main emphasis on chemical composition. From 1817 he took over the chair of his teacher Werner at the Bergakademie Freiberg as his successor. Mohs developed a concept of crystal systems around the same time, but according to his own statements independently of Christian Samuel Weiss , which he published in 1822. In 1826 he was appointed to Vienna. But he gave his lectures on this at the Mineralien-Cabinet. In 1834, in addition to his professorship, he was also given one of the positions of curator. In 1835, Mohs was withdrawn from the Mineralien-Cabinet and, as a real mountain ridge, was commissioned to set up a Montanist Museum in Vienna, which he was in charge of from 1835 to 1839. In 1849 the kk Geologische Reichsanstalt (today the Federal Geological Institute ) emerged.
From 1812 he was a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1822 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .
Mohs died in 1839 on a trip to Italy. He was first buried in Agordo, transferred to Vienna in 1865 and buried in the Protestant cemetery in Matzleinsdorf . In 1888 he was transferred to a grave of honor in the Vienna Central Cemetery . In the third district of Vienna, Landstrasse, and in the fourth district of Lend , the Mohsgasse is named after him. His birthplace Gernrode erected the Mohs monument in his honor .
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Mohs, Friedrich . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 18th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1868, pp. 443–448 ( digitized version ).
- Wilhelm von Gümbel : Mohs, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 76-79.
- C. Schiffner, From the Lives of Old Freiberg Mountain Students . E. Maukisch, Freiberg 1935, pp. 20-23.
- Josef Zemann: Mohs Friedrich, Montanist, mineralogist and crystallographer. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 6, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-7001-0128-7 , p. 345.
- Werner Kroker: Mohs, Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , p. 715 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Johannes Uray: Chemical theory and mineralogical classification systems from the chemical revolution to the middle of the 19th century . In: Bernhard Hubmann, Elmar Schübl, Johannes Seidl (eds.): The beginnings of geological research in Austria . Contributions to the conference “10 Years Working Group History of Earth Sciences in Austria” from April 24th to 26th, 2009 in Graz. Graz 2010, pp. 107–125.
- John G. Burke: Mohs, Friedrich . In: Charles Coulston Gillispie (Ed.): Dictionary of Scientific Biography . tape 9 : AT Macrobius - KF Naumann . Charles Scribner's Sons, New York 1974, p. 447-449 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Friedrich Mohs in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature by and about Friedrich Mohs in the Saxon Bibliography
- Entry on Friedrich Mohs in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Mohs' hardness scale
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mohs, Friedrich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mohs, Carl Friedrich Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Austrian mineralogist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 29, 1773 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gernrode |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 29, 1839 |
| Place of death | Agordo |