Leopold Würtenberger

Leopold Würtenberger (born September 2, 1846 in Dettighofen , † October 15, 1886 in Karlsruhe ) was a geologist , paleontologist , mineralogist and local researcher .

Study and job

Leopold Würtenberger was a son of Franz Joseph Würtenberger , and accompanied his father on his excursions. After completing secondary school in Switzerland, he attended the Polytechnic in Karlsruhe and studied geology, mineralogy, chemistry and mathematics. He was unable to complete his studies for financial reasons. 1866-67, he worked as an assistant in mineralogy, 1874 he was appointed as the coin data Karlsruhe Münzkontrolleur hired. In 1876 he switched to the permanent exhibition of agricultural teaching aids, tools and machines, but in the same year applied for leave due to illness and was dismissed in 1877. In 1881 he asked to start work and in 1882 was hired as an assistant in the meteorological central station.

His uncle Thomas Würtenberger was also a fossil collector who lived in Konstanz and whose collection of tertiary fossils was bought by ETH Zurich .

Struggle for recognition

Throughout his life he tried hard to get a job as a scientist, but he did not achieve the longed-for title of doctor, mainly due to financial reasons. He wrote letters of appeal to Charles Darwin and received a one-time donation of 100 pounds (after Darwin had obtained a positive judgment on Würtenberger from Melchior Neumayr ). In 1881 he turned to Darwin again with a request for a loan, who also sent him a cashier's check for an unknown amount.

At his request, Ernst Haeckel offered him support in 1872 to acquire the dissertation in Jena, among other things he expressly praised his written work on the ammonites as more than sufficient and even recommended that he submit something easier, the fees for the dissertation at the University of Jena In the amount of 65 Reichstaler and 65 silver groschen, however, it would have been essential to pay in advance. He died on October 15, 1886. His work on exploring the Klettgaujura is recognized to this day.

plant

Würtenberger put on a collection of around 17,000 objects with 1,000 types of fossils from the Klettgau , which he sold to the State of Baden for 1,000 guilders in 1869. He also received 100 guilders for a geological-agricultural relief map of the Klettgau, which received a bronze medal at the exhibition of agricultural teaching aids in Karlsruhe in 1869. A second, afterwards created Würtenberger collection of around 4,000 objects is preserved in Dettighofen.

His work on Jurassic ammonites from 1880 (which he had already completed in 1872 and wanted to submit as a dissertation) contains one of the earliest fossil-based family tables. Like his father and his uncle Thomas Würtenberger , he was a supporter of Darwinism . Würtenberger also sent his work to Charles Robert Darwin , who thanked him by letter.

He is also known for the geological explanation of the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen, which is essentially still valid today .

His last publications were related to meteorology in accordance with his employment at the weather station in Karlsruhe.

Fonts

• with Franz Joseph Würtenberger: The White Jura in the Klettgau and the adjacent Randen Mountains, negotiations of the natural science association in Carlsruhe, Volume 2, 1866, pp. 11–68
• with Franz Joseph Würtenberger: The Weisse Jura im Klettgau and the neighboring Randen Mountains, New Yearbook for Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology, 1866, pp. 608–610

Besides working with his father, he wrote:

• The sequence of layers of the Black and Brown Jura in Klettgau, New Yearbook for Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology, 1867, pp. 39–59
• Some observations in the White Jura of the Upper Danube Valley, New Yearbook for Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology, 1868, pp. 540–547
• About the origin of the Schaffhausen Rhine Falls, 1871, New Yearbook for Mineralogy, Geology and Paleontology, pp. 582–588
• Investigations into the formation of the Rhine Falls, The Abroad (survey of the latest research in the field of nature, earth and ethnology), Volume 44, No. 43, 44, 46, 49, 1871, Augsburg. JG Cotta
• The Vosges peninsula in the Jurassic Sea and the Alsatian Gulf, Globus, Volume 20, No. 1, Vieweg, Braunschweig 1871
• About more recent research in the field of jurisprudence , supplements to Meyers Konversationslexikon, Volume 4, Hildburghausen 1871
• New contribution to the geological evidence of Darwin's theory, Das Auslands, Volume 46, No. 1, Stuttgart, Cotta'sche Buchhandlung 1873
• La presqu'ile des Voges et le golfe alsacien, Revue d'hydrologie medicale francaise et etrangère, 18, Strasbourg 1875
• Studies on the tribal history of the ammonites. Geological evidence for Darwin's theory. Darwinist Writings, Volume 5, Ernst Günther, Leipzig 1880 ( archive )

literature

• Matthias Svojtka, Johannes Seidel, Michel Heller Early Evolutionary Thoughts in Paleontology: Materials on Correspondence between Charles Robert Darwin and Melchior Neumayr , Yearbook of the Federal Geological Institute, Volume 149, 2009, pp. 357–374, pdf (with a list of publications by Würtenberger)

Web links

Wikisource: Leopold Würtenberger  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gaston Mayer , Die Geologen-Familie Würtenberger from Dettighofen / Baden (1818–1956) , p. 242 ff., In: Report of the Natural Research Society in Freiburg im Breisgau , No. 2, 1963
2. ↑ Gaston Mayer, Die Geologen-Familie Würtenberger from Dettighofen / Baden (1818–1956) , pp. 252 and 257, (five letters from Leopold Würtenberger to Charles Darwin), Cambridge University Library., In: Report of the Natural Research Society in Freiburg im Breisgau , Issue 2, 1963 "
3. ↑ Hubert Matt-Willmatt, Dettighofen , 1992 p. 368
4. ^ Hubert Matt-Willmatt and Klaus Isele , Die Würtenberger Drei Dichter aus dem Klettgau , 1986, pedigree p. 266