Heinz Meixner (mineralogist)

Heinrich Hermann Heinz Meixner (born November 4, 1908 in Graz , † December 19, 1981 in Salzburg ) was an Austrian mineralogist.

Life

The collection on the 1st floor of the Mining Museum in Knappenberg (Carinthia) is dedicated to Meixner.

Heinz Meixner was born as the son of the zoologist Dr. Adolf and Bertha Meixner were born. His interest in mineralogy arose as a schoolboy, and his Matura housework was entitled “New Mineral Findings in the Austrian Eastern Alps I and II”. Heinz Meixner continued this topic in a row until his death, first in the communications of the Natural Science Association for Styria , and later in the magazine Der Karinthin, which he was responsible for, as a supplement to Carinthia II of the Natural Science Association for Carinthia .

Meixner completed his teaching degree in chemistry and natural history (biology) at the University of Graz , which he completed in 1935 with the teaching examination for secondary schools. In the fall of 1936 he received his doctorate in philosophy. His dissertation dealt with the mineral lazulite and its deposit types. An important teacher of Meixner was the later university professor Felix Machatschki . In the summer of 1938, Heinz Meixner worked at the University of Rostock with Carl Wilhelm Correns . In the autumn of 1938 Heinz Meixner became a scientific assistant at the Mineralogical-Petrographic Department of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, shortly afterwards curator and in 1940 lecturer in mineralogy at the University of Vienna . In the same year Meixner was drafted into the Wehrmacht , where he was employed as a military geologist in Norway. After his release from prisoner-of-war in 1947, he first worked as a mine-clerk's assistant , and from 1948 as a company mineralogist in the Hüttenberg mountain management of the Austrian-Alpine Mining Society on the Hüttenberger Erzberg .

In 1969 Meixner took over the newly founded Institute for Mineralogy, Petrography and Mineral Resources at the University of Salzburg . In over 400 scientific and popular scientific works, Meixner devoted himself primarily to mineral topographical and paragenetic issues.

A water-containing magnesium-aluminum hydroxide from the quarry In der Gleisen near Nöchling in the Waldviertel is named by Koritnig and Süsse in honor of Meixner's Meixnerite .

Meixner was in close contact with mineral collectors and their associations and was known to only recognize types of mineral presented to him with a magnifying glass. In spite of all his scientific seriousness, Meixner had a humorous, open and cozy nature, which was particularly appreciated on excursions and conferences. Meixner was friends with the geologist Eberhard Clar .

Meixner died at the age of 73 on December 19, 1981 in Salzburg of heart failure . His grave is at the Evangelical St. Peter Cemetery in Graz.

Works

• The uranium minerals around Badgastein, Salzburg, in the context of Austria. Springer, Vienna 1965.
• To the state mineralogy of Salzburg. 1878-1962. With addenda 1964, Egger, Imst 1965.
• The minerals of Carinthia, Klagenfurt, publishing house of the Natural Science Association for Carinthia
• Rocks, ore and mineral deposits in Carinthia

literature

• Fritz A. Pfaffl: Memorial of Heinz Meixner. in American Mineralogist, Volume 71, pages 1051-1052, 1986 ( PDF )
• Gerhard Niedermayr: Heinz Meixner and his importance for mineral topographical research in Austria. In: Communications from the Austrian Mineralogical Society. 128th year, 1981/82, pp. 7-9.
• Hans Wieseneder: Heinz Meixner 1908-1981. In: Carinthia II. 172./92. Year, Klagenfurt 1982, pp. 7–30 ( PDF on ZOBODAT , contains a complete list of publications).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Article archive of the magazine Der Karinthin on ZOBODAT (published between 1948 and 1987 in 96 volumes).