Johann Böckh

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Johann von Böckh

Johann von Böckh , Hungarian Böckh János (born October 20, 1840 in Pest , † May 10, 1909 in Budapest ) was a Hungarian geologist and director of the Royal Hungarian Geological Institute .

Life

Johann Böckh was the son of a doctor from Somorja , Adalbert Böckh, and his mother Wilhelmine Deutsch, an orphan from Pest. He obtained his higher education between 1850 and 1854 at the royal high school in Pozsony (now Bratislava ) and switched to the local high school for another school year for better drawing lessons.

Because of an intended military career, Böckh went to the genius school in Krems, where he remained until 1858. However, due to a sports injury, he had to give up his original professional goal. In the autumn of 1858 he started studying mining sciences with the help of a scholarship at the Montan and Forest Academy in Schemnitz. Böckh studied this subject until 1862, when he graduated with a diploma.

Böckh took up his first professional activity on November 18, 1862 as a mountain trainee at the Markscheiderei and in the mining operations of the kk ironworks management in Eisenerz in Styria . Between October 1, 1863 and autumn 1864, he worked in Reichenau in Lower Austria and then at the kk rolling mill administration in Hirschwang . On December 17, 1864, he was appointed mountain inspector and the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Finance appointed him to the service of the Imperial and Royal Geological Institute in Vienna, where he acquired further geological knowledge in an advanced training course until 1866. At the same time he attended selected lectures at the University of Vienna . He took part in events by Wilhelm Haidinger , Franz von Hauer , Eduard Suess and Franz Fötterle . On the initiative of the chief geologist Fötterle, Böckh toured mining companies and smelters in Hungary , Western Galicia as well as Bohemia and Moravia in 1865 and 1866 as part of excursions .

Finally, the section geologist Guido Stache used him for mapping work in the northern area of Vác . As part of this field work, Böckh carried out geological survey work in the Nógrád County in the areas of the General Staff Map Sheets Sections 46 and 47 (Col. XXXIV.) . His report entitled "Geological conditions in the vicinity of Buják, Ecseg and Herenesény" is his first independent scientific publication and was published in the yearbook (1866) of the Imperial Geological Institute . The subsequent field work under the guidance and participation of Guido Stache both led in the middle of 1866 to a survey of the Borsoder Bükk Mountains and its neighboring foothills as well as the lower Sajó and Hernád valleys . His second scientific publication was the report on this work. This ended his course at the Imperial Geological Institute .

In December 1866 Böckh got a job in the mining section of the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Finance in Vienna. The political changes in his homeland seemed to have had a big impact on him and Böckh moved to the Royal Hungarian Ministry of Finance on October 24, 1867 at his own request. There he worked under the direction of Deputy Secretary Gustav von Gränzenstein until August 1, 1868. At that time, when official relations between Budapest and Vienna designed only excitingly, the intended kk geological Reichsanstalt the geological survey work in the area of the Kingdom of Hungary in to continue under own direction. This proposal was not followed in Budapest.

Minister (István) Stefan Gorove

The Royal Hungarian Minister for Agriculture, Industry and Trade Stefan Gorove ordered the establishment of an independent Royal Hungarian Geological Section at his ministry. Maximilian Hantken was appointed to lead this group . Johann Böckh was drawn back to practical geological work. He took a leave of absence from the Hungarian finance minister in order to immediately switch to a temporary position in this geological section. As a result, he was involved in the first independent geological detailed survey by Hungarian specialists. The Hungarian finance minister Melchior von Lónyay appointed him honorary draftsman on March 21, 1869, and the agriculture minister finally appointed him to the service of the royal Hungarian geological institute , which had been created in the meantime , where he took on the duties of an auxiliary geologist. The Transylvanian Society for Natural Sciences in Sibiu accepted him on March 15, 1869 as a member.

During this time Johann Böckh made the acquaintance of Antonie Hofmann, the daughter of the mining entrepreneur Zacharias Hofmann. This connection found personal support through the good relationship with his colleague Karl Hofmann , as he was Antonie's older brother. Johann Böckh and Antonie Hofmann married on August 11, 1873 in Păuliș (in Arad County ). This marriage resulted in three children, Hugo (1874–1931), Wilhelmine (* 1876) and Béla (* 1878).

His professional development advanced; on November 30, 1871 to the section lie of the institution and on November 23, 1872 finally to the second chief geologist. Karl Peters wrote letters to encourage him to take over a palaeontological chair at the University of Prague or Graz. However, Böckh refused both offers.

Between 1882 and 1908 Böckh was director of the Royal Hungarian Geological Institute. He took over this management role on January 26, 1882, but was not officially appointed director until June 22 of the same year. His successor in office was Lajos Lóczy sen. on. The Hungarian Geological Society elected him on February 13, 1889 as its vice-president. He served as its president from February 6, 1895 to February 6, 1901.

In the context of the Millennium Exhibition in Budapest in 1896, he participated in the national commission for its preparation. He assumed leading responsibility for the departments of geology and practical geology as well as agrogeology and hydrogeology .

In the summer of 1989 he took part in the VII International Geological Congress in Saint Petersburg , where he officially represented the Kingdom of Hungary. Böckh also took part in the next meeting in 1900, the VII International Geological Congress in Paris , and represented his government there on an official basis. Drawing on his previous experience, he became a member of the preparatory commission for the Paris World Exhibition with responsibility for two subject areas.

Bas-relief in marble with the portrait of Johann Böckh on the wall of the Geological Institute in Budapest XIV. (Stefánia út 14.)

At his own request he was given permanent retirement with effect from July 13, 1908. He died on May 10, 1909, of a heart attack in his Budapest apartment.

Oil exploration work

His suggestions for the search for oil deposits in the Kingdom of Hungary are valued as commendable. Accordingly, preliminary geological investigations and exploratory drillings were carried out. Böckh undertook mapping work for the area near Szassal in the valley of the Iza ( Máramaros county ), where crude oil was found at the point he had predicted during a drilling in 1896. For this purpose he also examined the area around Sósmező in Háromszék County . These investigations were prepared and carried out on behalf of the Hungarian Prime Minister Sándor Wekerle . These deposits had been known for a long time and were mentioned by Johann Ehrenreich von Fichtel as early as 1780 . In the second half of the 19th century, Henri Coquand , Franz Herbich and other geoscientists undertook extensive geological explorations, which Böckh followed with his work.

Memberships and awards

  • Corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
  • Head of the Geological Society of Hungary (1895–1901)
  • Honorary member of the Hungarian Geographical Society (on March 11, 1897)
  • Order of the Iron Crown , III. Class (awarded on October 10, 1896)
  • Order of St. Stanislaus , 2nd class with star of the Russian Tsar (awarded in spring 1899)
  • Josef Szabó Medal of the Hungarian Geological Society (1900)
  • Honorary membership of the Hungarian Geological Society (1901)
  • Awarded the title to the Royal Ministerial Councilor (1902)
  • Corresponding member of the Transylvanian Society for Natural Sciences in Sibiu (1904)
  • Title of nobility "von Nagysur" by royal decree (1907)

Selected Works

Publication (1900) Böckhs for the exploration of oil deposits

Fonts

  • The geological conditions of the southern part of the Bakony . Pest 1874 In: Communications from the yearbook of the Royal Hungarian Geological Institute
  • János Böckh & Tamás Szontagh: The Royal Hungarian Geological Institute . Budapest 1900
  • The state of petroleum exploration in the countries of the Hungarian Holy Crown . Budapest 1909

Geological maps

  • Johann Böckh, Franz Schafarzik : The area around Budapest and Szt.Endre . Zone 15, col. 20. 1: 75,000, Budapest, 1904
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Temeskutas and Oravicabánya, zone 25, col. 25. Budapest 1909
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Nagyvárad, zone 17, col. 26. Budapest 1910
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Berezna and Szinevér, zone 12, col. 29. Budapest 1910
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Brusztura, zone 11, 12, col. 30. Budapest 1910
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Dognácska and Gattaja, zone 24, col. 25. Budapest 1911
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Ökörmező and Tuchla, zone 10, 11, col. 29. Budapest 1911
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: surroundings of Szempcz and Tallós, zone 13, col. 17 . 1: 75,000, Budapest, 1912
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Vágsellye and Nagysurány area, zone 13, col. 18 , Budapest 1912
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Fehértemplom, Szászkabánya and Ómoldova, zone 26, 27, col. 25. Budapest 1912
  • Geological recordings of the royal. Hungarian geological institute: Nagyszombat, Zone 12, Col. 17 . 1: 75,000, Budapest, 1915

family

His parents' siblings had died as a result of a cholera epidemic . Johann Böckh had a sister and a brother. His older sister Pauline later married the factory owner Gustav Szlubek in what was then Pozsony . His younger brother Béla became a doctor in that town.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Böckh: The geological conditions of Sósmezö and the surrounding area in the Comitate Háromszék . Budapest 1900, In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the royal. Hungarian geological institute, XII. Volume, 1st issue, pp. 3, 14-89
personal data
SURNAME Böckh, Johann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Böckh, János
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian geologist, paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1840
PLACE OF BIRTH pest
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1909
Place of death Budapest