August von Herder
Sigismund (Siegmund) August Wolfgang ( baron since 1816 ) von Herder (born August 18, 1776 in Bückeburg , † January 29, 1838 in Dresden ) was a German geologist , mineralogist and Saxon chief miner .
Life
Sigismund August Wolfgang Herder came as the second son of the poet Johann Gottfried Herder and his wife Marie Karoline , b. Flax country, to the world. His godparents included Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Johann Georg Hamann and Matthias Claudius . In particular, through Goethe, who took him on excursions, and the influence of a friend of his father's, August von Einsiedel , who traveled to Africa , he became interested in mineralogy and the natural sciences.
After Herder spent a year with his brother Wilhelm in French-speaking Switzerland, where he mainly improved his language skills, he began studying at the University of Jena in 1795 , moved to Göttingen in 1796 and, from 1797, studied with Abraham at the Bergakademie in Freiberg Thank God Werner . In Freiberg he was one of the founders of the Erzgebirge Landsmannschaft der Montanen, later the Corps Montania . This was followed by further studies at the University of Wittenberg , which he completed with a doctorate in 1802. phil. completed. In the same year 1802, his father was ennobled, whereby the nobility predicate "von Herder" passed to his children.
Sigismund August Wolfgang von Herder got a job in the Saxon mining service in 1802 and worked for the mining offices of Marienberg , Geyer , Ehrenfriedersdorf and Schneeberg .
After Herder had been commissioned by the Saxon King and Duke of Warsaw Friedrich August III in 1809 . had organized the Panki ironworks, in 1811 he presented the plans he had developed together with Friedrich von Zedtwitz to improve mining in Poland , for which he was made a baron by the king in 1816 . Above all, Herder was entrusted with regulating the special conditions in the joint ownership of the royal mountain town of Wieliczka between Saxony and Austria , but negotiations were repeatedly delayed.
Since 1813 living in Freiberg , Saxony , Herder worked out proposals for the revival of mining in the kingdom of Saxony, which was greatly reduced in size after the war . This was followed by a steep ascent, which, after being appointed Vice-Mining Captain (1819), finally culminated in 1826 when he was appointed Oberberghauptmann, the highest official in the Saxon mountain state.
Under Herder, the Saxon mining industry took off again with the introduction of new machines. He promoted the use of coal in metallurgy and the introduction of gas lighting. At the same time, the study at the Bergakademie received a significantly higher quality due to its suggestions for scientific research and stricter admission criteria. In 1827, Herder arranged for the Bergakademie to publish a calendar for the Saxon miner and smelter .
Herder, who was also very fond of music and poetry, promoted the distribution and performance of mining songs. In 1824 Herder introduced the Russian horns for the Berghautboistenchor in Freiberg. Magnificent mountain lifts in splendid mountain habits were his particular passion. The king allowed him to wear an honor saber adorned with 108 diamonds to his mountain uniform, a gift from Prince Miloš Obrenović for a trip to Serbia he commissioned in 1835 to investigate the geological conditions and the mining operations.
Herder planned the Tiefen Meissner Erbstolln, but it was never implemented. Only after his death did the construction of the Rothschönberger Stolln begin, which was shorter and 90 m less deep .
Herder contracted severe rheumatism in Serbia ; Staying at a spa in Karlsbad brought little improvement. To treat a bowel disease, he went to Dresden, where he died a few days before an operation.
According to his last wish, the “friend of all miners ” was buried in the dump of the Three Kings mine near Freiberg in 1838 during a nightly parade of the mountains . On the grave, a monument to Herder's rest was erected in his honor, based on designs by Eduard Heuchler .
There is a carved figure on the Schneeberg town pyramid depicting the chief miner.
family
Herder married the pastor widow Susanne Sophie Berger, born on June 17, 1805 in Schneeberg . Chickens. The marriage has a child, the son Wolfgang . The castle and the Rauenstein manor belonged to his wife's brother and later came into the possession of the von Herder family.
literature
- Peter von Gerhardt, Hans Schauer: Johann Gottfried Herder - his ancestors and his descendants ; Leipzig 1930.
- C. Schiffner: From the life of old Freiberg mountain students. E. Maukisch, Freiberg 1935, pp. 121-129.
- Walter Schellhas : Siegismund August Wolfgang Freiherr von Herder . In: The cut . Vol. 11, No. 4, 1959, pp. 10-16. ISSN 0003-5238
- Wilhelm von Gümbel: Herder, August Freiherr von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 12, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1880, p. 100 f.
- Walter Schellhas: Herder, Sigismund August Wolfgang von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 594 f. ( Digitized version ).
- August Friedrich Wappler : Chief Miner Siegmund August Wolfgang Freiherr von Herder. A gift on the 100th anniversary of his father's death . In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association . 39th issue, 1903, p. 77–144 ( Online ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) [PDF; 14.9 MB ; accessed on January 24, 2013]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ 100 Years of the Weinheim Senior Citizens' Convention , pp. 137–138. Bochum, 1963
Web links
- Literature by and about August von Herder in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Herder, August of |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Herder, Sigismund August Wolfgang Freiherr von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German geologist, mineralogist and Saxon chief miner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 18, 1776 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Buckeburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 1838 |
| Place of death | Dresden |