Maximilian Hantken

Maximilian Hantken from Prudnik

Maximilian Hantken von Prudnik , also Maximilian von Hantken, Hungarian Hantken Miksa (born September 26, 1821 in Jablunkau , † June 26, 1893 in Budapest ) was an Austro-Hungarian geologist , paleontologist and mining engineer . From 1869 to 1882 he was the first director of the k. Hungarian geological institute in Budapest.

education

Maximilian Hantken began to study at the University of Vienna in 1840 and stayed there until 1842. He then signed up at the Bergakademie Schemnitz , where he graduated as a mining engineer in 1846. He then worked for various mining companies. From 1849 to 1850 he continued his studies in chemistry at the University of Vienna.

Life

Coat of arms of the mining town of Dorog

As a young graduate, Hantken worked as a mountain clerk in Dorog (Dorogh) south of Esztergom in 1852 . There he examined the geological conditions in the area. He made friends with Samuel von Vásárhelyi, who was the landowner of Tinnye and showed him his collection of petrefacts . In this region, lignite has been mined since about 1805, in the beginning mainly by the Pest Brick and Coal Company .

Between 1853 and 1858 Hantken stayed in Serbia and worked there on behalf of the government. When he returned to Budapest, he studied foraminifera in sediments in the area northwest of the city. During these investigations, Hantken also found them in the Kleinzeller Tegel ( Kisczelli tályag ) between Dorog and Pest and compared them with the Piszker and Ofener marls that occur not far from there . This work was supported by József Szabó , who at that time was director of the Pest Business Academy and provided him with a microscope. Between 1861 and 1867 Hantken was active at the Pest Academy of Commerce with a teaching position.

In 1866 Hantken took over the position of curator at the geological department of the k. Hungarian National Museum in Pest. He accompanied this task until 1869. In 1867, Hantken published the first individual mineralogical-petrographic description of Bosnia , which deals with the meerschaum deposits near Prnjavor in the northern Bosnian Ljubić Mountains .

During his time at the National Museum, Hantken was entrusted with the management of a geological mapping group in Hungary . This work followed on from the previous but incomplete mappings of the Imperial Geological Institute . This circle also included Karl Hofmann , Benjamin Winkler von Köszeg, Johann Böckh and Antal Koch . The geological survey group he led began its work on August 20, 1868 on behalf of Stefan Gorove , the k. Hungarian Minister for Agriculture, Industry and Trade . In that year, Hantken again investigated the geological conditions of the brown coal area near the city of Esztergom (then Gran) with mapping work , the results of which were published in 1871 and incorporated into the Tata-Bicske (F7) map on a scale of 1: 144,000.

After the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef I founded the k. Hungarian geological institute , Maximilian Hantken was given its management. The institute was formed from the Hungarian geological section that already existed at the National Museum , the group of geologists who were responsible for the beginnings of independent geological mapping in Hungary. As director, he also took on the editing of the communications from the yearbook of the Koenigs , which were published in Hungarian and German . Hungarian geological institute ( A magyar királyi földtani intézet évkönyve ).

In 1880 he was commissioned by the Hungarian government to investigate the Agram earthquake .

When Maximilian Hantken accepted a call at the University of Budapest in January 1882 , his previous colleague Johann Böckh took over the management of the institution. Hantken became a full professor at the newly established chair for paleontology .

His extraordinary knowledge of the geology of Hungary meant that he worked as the Hungarian correspondent for the Imperial and Royal Geological Institute in Vienna . With his investigations in what was then Gran County and the parts of Pest-Pilis-Solt-Kiskun County bordering to the south-east , Hantken contributed significantly to the understanding of tertiary deposits in northern Hungary.

Maximilian Hantken was buried in the Budapest cemetery Kerepesi temető (34 / 2-1-50).

Selected Works

• The surroundings of Tinnye . In: Yearbook of the kk geolog. Reichsanstalt. Vienna 1859
• Geologiai tanulmányok Buda s Tata között . In: Akad. Közlem. Vol. 1, pp. 213-278, 1861
• ( Editing ) A magyarhoni földtani társulat Munkálatai . Plague 1870
• The geological conditions of the Graner brown coal area . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, volume 1, 1872
• A magyarországi kőszén együttes kiállítása a bécsi 1873. évi köztárlaton . Budapest 1873
• The oven marl . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, volume 2, 1873
• New data on geol. u. paleont. Knowledge d. south of Bakony . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, volume 3, 1874
• The fauna d. Clavulina Szabój layers. 1. Th. Foraminifera . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, Volume 4, 1875 (A Clavulina Szabói rétegek faunája I.)
• The coal seam and coal mining in the countries of the Hungarian crown . Budapest 1878
• The Agram earthquake in 1880 . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, Volume 6, Volume 3, 1882, digital version online at oszk.hu (PDF; 28.7 MB)
• Maximilian von Hantken, Carl Hofmann, Julius Halaváts: The surroundings of Budapest and Tétény. Explanations of the special geological map of the countries of the Hungarian crown . Section sheet Zone 16 / Col. XX. 1:75 000, Budapest 1903

Honors

• 1888 Honorary doctorate from the University of Bologna
• Street naming in Dorog (Hantken Miksa utca)
• by Zsigmond Kisfaludi Stróbl a bronze bust (1967) in the State Institute for Geology in Budapest
• The Hantken Foundation in Budapest promotes education and research in the paleontological field in Hungary
• The paleontological generic name Hantkenina refers to its name

literature

• Johann Böckh and Thomas v. Szontagh: The Royal Hungarian Geological Institute . Budapest 1900
• Stjepan Ćorić: The geological exploration of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fundamental contribution of Austrian geologists . In: Abhandlungen der Geologische Bundesanstalt, Vol. 56/1 Vienna 1999, p. 128, ISBN 3-85316-004-2
• Hantken from Prudnik, Miksa. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1959, p. 184.
• Endre Dudich: The relationship between the Imperial and Royal Geological Institute Vienna and Hungarian geology from 1867 to 1918 . In: Reports of the Federal Geological Institute, Volume 51, Vienna 2000 ISSN  1017-8880
• Max von Hantken: Foreword . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, volume 1, 1872
• Maximilian von Hantken, Carl Hofmann, Julius Halaváts: The surroundings of Budapest and Tétény. Explanations of the special geological map of the countries of the Hungarian crown . Section sheet Zone 16 / Col. XX., Budapest 1903, p. 4
• Maximilian von Hantken: The geological conditions of the Graner brown coal area . In: Mittheilungen from the yearbook of the Kings. Hungarian geological institute, volume 1, 1872

Web links

• Mining and Geological Survey of Hungary: picture by Maximilian Hantken (left) . on www.mbfsz.gov.hu ​​(Hungarian, English)
• Eötvös Loránd University: Department of Paleontology . on www.paleo.elte.hu (Hungarian, English)
• Hantken Miksa Foundation: Hantken Foundation in Budapest . on www.hantken.hu (Hungarian, English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Taxon Hantkenina to Miksa Hantken (ung.)