Hansgeorg Förster

Hans Georg Förster 1988 with a Mapping Course in the Schobergruppe

Hansgeorg Förster (born September 17, 1936 in Braunschweig ; † February 6, 2018 in Aachen ) was a German mineralogist and university professor at RWTH Aachen University .

Life

Förster began studying mineralogy in 1954 at the Bergakademie Freiberg . After fleeing the GDR , he continued his studies at Clausthal University, where he graduated in 1960. For postgraduate studies, he switched to RWTH Aachen University , where he received his doctorate from Doris Schachner in 1963 with his thesis The lead-zinc ore deposit in Schneeberg in South Tyrol . After completing his doctorate, he went to the School of Mines and Metallurgy in Minneapolis and completed his habilitation on his return on the subject of crystallization and tectonics of the Schneeberg rock formation . After his habilitation, he became a private lecturer in 1969, an adjunct professor in 1972 and finally, on January 28, 1980, professor of mineralogy, petrography and ore deposit theory. He held this position until his retirement in 2001.

From 1991 to 2003, Förster was editor of the journal Ore Geology Reviews .

Research work

Förster conducted research on magnetite deposits in Iran in the 1970s . In 1973, together with Heinrich Soffel , based on paleomagnetic findings, he succeeded in detecting a central Iranian microplate that detached from Gondwana in the Permian and drifted northwards in isolation during the Triassic . In the last few years of his career, he has devoted himself primarily to researching fibrous minerals and their effects on human health, identifying, among other things, fibrous zeolites as possible triggers of cancer.

literature

• Ulrich Knittel and Nikolaus Schmitz: Hansgeorg Förster 1936–2018 . GMIT Geoscientific Communications 74 (December 2018), p. 116, ISSN  1616-3931

Web links

• Obituary notice , published in Aachener Zeitung / Aachener Nachrichten on February 10, 2018