Karl von Fritsch (geologist)

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Karl Wilhelm Georg Freiherr von Fritsch (born November 11, 1838 in Weimar , † January 9, 1906 in Goddula near Merseburg ) was a German geologist and paleontologist . He researched the Canary Islands and the geological foundations of the Gotthard tunnel , was a professor in Zurich and Halle and most recently the Academy President of the Leopoldina .

origin

The grave in the Vesta cemetery

Karl von Fritsch was the grandson of the politician and baron Karl Wilhelm von Fritsch , who owned an estate in Groß-Goddula. His parents were the forest master Georg August von Fritsch (1807–1866) and his wife Nanci von Rosenbach (1807–1838), a daughter of the heir to Mohrenhof (Estonia) Carl Magnus von Rosenbach and Helene Elisebth von Baranoff .

Life

After Karl finished school in his hometown of Weimar, he enrolled at the Forest Academy in Eisenach . He later switched to studying geology at the University of Göttingen and graduated in 1862 with a doctorate. Then Fritsch went on an extensive study trip to Madeira and the Canary Islands . He published the results of this trip in several writings, including a. as a geological description of the island of Tenerife . In the same year Fritsch accepted a position at the University of Zurich and was able to do his habilitation there in 1863 .

As a lecturer in geology, he worked alongside the university and at the Polytechnic , later the ETH Zurich, until 1867 . During this time he created an exact geological map of the Gotthard massif (1873) and, with his work Das Gotthardgebiet, laid the foundations for the later drilling.

Further geoscientific study trips took him to the volcanic eruption on Santorini in 1866 , to Morocco and the High Atlas in 1872 .

In 1867 Freiherr von Fritsch moved to Frankfurt am Main as a lecturer in geology and mineralogy for the Senckenberg Natural Research Society . In 1873 he accepted a position as associate professor of geology at the University of Halle , where he worked for 30 years and was to become a profound expert on the geology of Saxony . In 1876 he was promoted to full professor. In 1888 he wrote a general geology (Stuttgart 1888) and not least brought the Mineralogical Museum to its high level. Later Fritsch turned to geology.

In 1877 the Leopoldina (German Academy of Natural Sciences) accepted him as a member. After Hermann Knoblauch's death in 1895, Fritsch was elected President of the Leopoldina as his successor. Fritsch held this office until the end of his life. The mathematician Albert Wangerin was appointed his successor .

At the age of 68, Karl von Fritsch died on January 9, 1906 in Goddula near Merseburg.

His family had to give up the estate in Goddula during the global economic crisis and move to Ballenstedt . The property first came to the Sachsenland settlement company and later to rural resettlers from nearby Schkopau when the Buna factory was being built there.

family

In 1867 in Zurich he married Elisabeth Kenngott (1848–1907), a daughter of the professor of mineral orgy in Zurich Gustav Adolf Kenngott (1818–1897) and Klara Koch . The couple had three sons and four daughters, including:

  • Elisabeth ∞ Adolf Cluß (1862–1930), professor of agricultural chemistry

Fonts (selection)

  • Travel pictures from the Canary Islands (= Petermann's Geographische Mittheilungen . Supplementary booklet . 22). With 3 copper engraved maps of Hierro, Gomera and Gran Canaria. Perthes, Gotha 1867, ( digitized version ).
  • with Georg Hartung and Johann Wilhelm Reiss: Tenerife shown geologically and topographically. A contribution to the knowledge of volcanic mountains. Wurster, Winterthur 1867, ( digitized ).
  • with Johann Wilhelm Reiss: Geological description of the island of Tenerife. A contribution to the knowledge of volcanic mountains. Wurster, Winterthur 1868, ( digitized ).
  • (Goniatites Giebeli from the wave limestone group of Kölme). In: Journal for the entire natural sciences. Vol. 44 = NF Vol. 10 = Correspondence sheet of the Natural Science Association for the Province of Saxony and Thuringia in Halle. 6, 1874, ( pp. 186-187 ).
  • The Gotthard area. = The St. Gotthard Mountains (= contributions to the geological map of Switzerland. 15). Geological Commission of the Swiss Society for Natural Research, Bern 1873, ( digitized version )
  • General geology . Engelhorn, Stuttgart 1888.
  • Report. Excursion to the area around Halle. In: Journal of the German Geological Society . Vol. 53, 1901, negotiations of the society pp. 66–86 .
  • Contribution to the knowledge of the animal world of the German Triassic. In: Treatises of the Natural Research Society in Halle. Vol. 24, 1906, ZDB -ID 504575-7 , pp. 219-285, plates 2-11.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Member entry by Karl Frhr. von Fritsch (with picture) at the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina , accessed on August 5, 2016.
personal data
SURNAME Fritsch, Karl von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fritsch, Karl Georg Wilhelm Freiherr von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geologist and paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1838
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1906
Place of death Goddula near Merseburg