Otto Scharf (engineer)

Otto Eduard Scharf (born July 14, 1857 in Klein Ostrau near Dürrenberg , † March 22, 1935 in Halle ) was a German mining engineer , Oberbergrat and administrative officer .

Life

Otto Scharf came from a well-off family. His father, Eduard Scharf, was the landowner and leaseholder of the Royal Domain Dürrenberg, his mother, Marie Scharf, nee. Kramer, was the daughter of a landowner in Kleinkorbetha . He studied at the Friedrich University Halle , the Bergakademie Berlin and the Friedrich Wilhelms University Berlin . His academic mentors included the mineralogist Christian Samuel Weiss and the geologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich . After completing his studies, he decided to pursue a career in the Prussian civil service , where he began as a mountain assessor and rose to become a privy councilor .

First as a miner , later as a miner and chief miner , Scharf was active in all instances and regions of the Prussian state mining . In 1884 he worked in the higher service at the Oberbergamt in Halle . A year later he moved to the Royal Prussian Mining Directorate in Saarbrücken . In 1886, Scharf became mining inspector at the Heinitz mine near Neunkirchen (Saar) . From 1888 he worked as a mining foreman at the regional mining office in Dortmund . Scharf then headed the department for firedamp pits in Silesia in Wroclaw .

During the Hibernia affair and the related tensions between the Prussian tax authorities and the Rheinisch-Westfälischen Kohlen Syndikat , Otto Scharf was appointed by Wilhelm II to be a real privy councilor and chairman of the Dortmund mine management in 1905 . He was at the head of the Prussian-Westphalian state mines. In 1907, Scharf moved to the Central German lignite district and became director of the Oberbergamt in Halle .

On September 26, 1917, together with Johannes Walther , he founded the Hallescher Verband for research into Central German mineral resources and their utilization . This association was a novelty in Germany. He opened up an enormous innovation potential for the region and united the heads of the natural science universities and state institutes with the mining authorities and the leading personalities of the provincial Saxon mining industry together with the industrial companies based on it.

On July 11, 1920 Otto Scharf received an honorary doctorate (Dr. phil. Hc) from the Friedrich University of Halle-Wittenberg. In 1921 he retired, but headed the Hallescher Verband for research into Central German mineral resources and their exploitation until his death.

family

Otto Scharf was married to Emma Natalie Alma Scharf (née von Schönberg ) since 1887 . They had ten children together. During the First World War, their sons Otto died at the age of 27 and Hans at the age of 23 in France. Her daughter Lotte died of an illness in 1918 at the age of 18. Her son Willi Scharf received his doctorate in natural sciences in 1924 and, as a geologist, later became a long-term member of the Austrian Geological Society .

The geologist and chairman of the board of A. Riebeck'sche Montanwerke Otto Scharf (1875–1942) was a nephew of Otto Scharf.

Aftermath

In honor of his work for the Central German lignite mining industry, the Otto-Scharf-Mine near Köttichau was named in 1937 , at that time a superlative opencast mine worldwide. In Bottrop district self that is sharp street named after him.

literature

• Walter Serlo: Obituary for Otto Scharf . In: Glückauf - Berg- und Hüttenmännische Zeitschrift , 71, No. 17 of April 27, 1935, p. 412. ( PDF )

Web links

• Digital portrait index: Otto Scharf, Bergassessor, Salzamt zu Schönebeck, Oberbergamt zu Halle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Personal, birth and death data IGS Halle, accessed on February 16, 2019
2. ↑ Ferdinand von Wolff (Ed.): Yearbook Hallescher Verband 1934. Volumes 13-15. Publishing house Hallescher Verband for research into Central German mineral resources, 1934, p. 5.
3. ↑ Ferdinand von Wolff (Ed.): Yearbook Hallescher Verband 1934. Volumes 13-15. Publishing house Hallescher Verband for research into Central German mineral resources, 1934, p. 5.
4. ↑ Ferdinand von Wolff (Ed.): Yearbook Hallescher Verband 1934. Volumes 13-15. Publishing house Hallescher Verband for research into central German mineral resources, 1934, p. 7.
5. ↑ M. Bauer (Ed.): New yearbook for mineralogy, geology and paleontology. E. Schweizerbart, 1939, p. 199.
6. ↑ M. Bauer (Ed.): New yearbook for mineralogy, geology and paleontology. E. Schweizerbart, 1939, p. 199.
7. ↑ Ferdinand von Wolff (Ed.): Yearbook Hallescher Verband 1934. Volumes 13-15. Publishing house Hallescher Verband for the exploration of central German mineral resources, 1934, pp. 7–9.
8. ↑ Cornelia Wewetzer: Halle and mining. Landesheimatbund Sachsen-Anhalt, 2005, p. 367.
9. ^ Gunnar Berg: Martin Luther University. From the foundation to the reorganization after two dictatorships. Springer, 2013, p. 68.
10. ↑ Ed. Rector and Senate: Chronicle of the Prussian United Friedrichs University Halle-Wittenberg. University of Halle, 1928, p. 128.
11. ↑ M. Bauer (Ed.): New yearbook for mineralogy, geology and paleontology. E. Schweizerbart, 1939, p. 199.
12. ↑ Ferdinand von Wolff (Ed.): Yearbook Hallescher Verband 1934. Volumes 13-15. Publishing house Hallescher Verband for the exploration of central German mineral resources, 1934, pp. 7–9.
13. ^ Announcements of the Geological Society in Vienna, Volume 64, 1971 Geological Society Vienna, accessed on February 17, 2019
14. ↑ W. Hertz (Ed.): Journal for the mining, metallurgy and saltworks in the Prussian state. Volume 86. W. Hertz, 1938, p. 238.
15. ↑ Mining roads from Dickebank to Zum Prosperpark Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung from August 5, 2015, accessed on February 16, 2019

Remarks

1. ↑ Mines were referred to as firedamp pits when bad weather occurred. Which mine was designated as a firedamp pit was the responsibility of the responsible mining authority. Every mine in the district of the Dortmund Oberbergamt was regarded as a firedamp pit. (Source: NA Herold: Worker Protection in the Prussian Mountain Police Regulations. )