Hermann Michel (mineralogist)

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Hermann Michel (born February 8, 1888 in Neustadt an der Tafelfichte (today Nové Město pod Smrkem), † October 15, 1965 in Purkersdorf ), was an Austrian mineralogist and gemstone specialist. He was director of the mineralogical-petrographic department of the Natural History Museum Vienna (1923–1952) and its first director (1933–1938 and 1947–1951).

Life

Hermann Michel was born as the son of a middle school teacher in northern Bohemia. He was already interested in geology and mineralogy in high school. From 1909 he studied natural sciences at the University of Vienna . It was in 1912 when Friedrich Johann Karl Becke with a dissertation on "The feldspars of meteorites" doctorate . From 1912 to 1919, interrupted by military service from 1914 to 1918, Michel was an assistant at the Mineralogical Institute of the University of Vienna. Then he moved to the mineralogical-petrographic department of the Natural History Museum Vienna. There he became custodian in 1922 and head of the department and department director the following year.

In 1921 Hermann Michel married his first wife Anny, née Fritsch.

In 1933, Michel was appointed first director of the Natural History Museum Vienna and thus successor to the entomologist Hans Rebel (1861–1940). One day after the annexation of Austria he was relieved of this position and temporarily appointed Otto Pesta (1885–1974) and the following year Hans Kummerlöwe (1903–1995) as first director. However, Michel remained department director until his retirement in 1952 and from 1941 was reinstated in teaching at the University of Vienna. From 1939 he worked hard to save the museum's collections from war damage. In 1947 Michel was reinstated as the first director of the Natural History Museum. In the same year, one year after the death of his first wife, Michel married Margarete Drözda, née Etterlein. After his retirement in 1952 he lived in complete seclusion. He was buried at the Neustift cemetery .

Publications

Hermann Michel wrote around 140 publications and five books. Some of them are:

  • The artificial gemstones - their production, their differentiation from natural and their position in trade. Diebener, Leipzig 1914; 2nd edition 1926.
  • Pearls and cultured pearls. Creation, construction, fishing, trade and research. Diebener, Leipzig 1927; 2nd edition 1943.
  • Gems and Pearls, the Pocket Book for Juwelers. Springer, Vienna, New York 1929.

literature

  • Hans Wieseneder : Hermann Michel in memory . In: Annalen des Naturhistorisches Museum Wien 88A, 1987, pp. 253–263 (with picture and list of publications pp. 258–262) ( pdf ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://data.onb.ac.at/nlv_lex/perslex/M/Michel_Hermann.htm estate directory
  2. ^ Grave site Hermann Michel , Vienna, Neustifter Friedhof, Group K, Row 13, No. 16.
personal data
SURNAME Michel, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Neustadt an der Tafelfichte
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1965
Place of death Purkersdorf