Abraham Gottlob Werner’s Followers (3)

Abraham Gottlob Werner

Born

in Wehrau (Osiecznica), Prussian Silesia (now in Poland)

September 25, 1749

Died

June 30, 1817

Website

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Gottlob_We...

Genre

Science, Geology, Nonfiction

Influences

Alexander von Humboldt, Christian Leopold von Buch, Socrates, Napoleon ...more

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German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner developed a classification system for minerals and argued that a primeval ocean formed all rocks.

He set out an early theory about the stratification of the crust of the Earth and propounded an earth history that other persons labeled "Neptunism." Whereas people eventually set aside most tenets, Werner clearly demonstrated the chronological succession, infused the zeal into his pupils, and gave the impulse to the study. Traditions of stratigraphy and cosmogony in Europe existed before most of his work. People called him the “father of German geology.”

During career, Werner published very little, but his fame as a teacher spread throughout Europe and attracted students, virtual disciples, who spread hi German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner developed a classification system for minerals and argued that a primeval ocean formed all rocks.

He set out an early theory about the stratification of the crust of the Earth and propounded an earth history that other persons labeled "Neptunism." Whereas people eventually set aside most tenets, Werner clearly demonstrated the chronological succession, infused the zeal into his pupils, and gave the impulse to the study. Traditions of stratigraphy and cosmogony in Europe existed before most of his work. People called him the “father of German geology.”

During career, Werner published very little, but his fame as a teacher spread throughout Europe and attracted students, virtual disciples, who spread his interpretations throughout their homelands; Robert Jameson served as professor at Edinburgh, and Andres Manuel del Rio discovered vanadium. Socratic in his lecturing style, Werner developed an appreciation for the broader implications and interrelations of geology within his students, who provided an enthusiastic and attentive audience.

Frail health plagued entire life of Werner, who passed a quiet existence in the immediate environs of Freiberg. An avid mineral collector in his youth, he abandoned field work altogether in his later life. No evidence suggests that he ever traveled beyond Saxony in his entire adult life. The misfortunes befell Saxony during the Napoleonic wars; his consternation over these misfortunes supposedly caused internal complications from which Werner died at Dresden.

People elected him a foreign member of the royal Swedish academy of sciences in 1810.

Werner certainly the most influential geologist of the early portion of the Industrial Revolution. His extraordinary abilities as a lecturer attracted students over Europe, who then returned to their native countries and applied his teachings and concepts. People commonly referred to debate that those applications immediately fomented as the Neptunist-Plutonist controversy, particularly over the origin of basalt. Much geological activity through the end of the 18th century and well into the 19th century focused that controversy.

The variety of scapolite known as wernerite is named in his honor. He is credited with coining the term geognosy, for the geological study of the Earth's structure, specifically its exterior and interior construction.

In 1805, he described the mineral zoisite and named it after Sigmund Zois, who sent him its specimens from Saualpe in Carinthia.

Werner’s major work, Von den äußerlichen Kennzeichen der Foßilien (1774), contained a comprehensive colour scheme of his own devising for the description and classification of minerals. The work, incorporating this colour nomenclature with some modifications, was translated into French by Claudine Guyton de Morveau (née Picardet) (1790), and into English by Thomas Weaver (1805). The international influence of Werner's scheme can be further judged from the work of Patrick Syme (1774–1845), painter to the Wernerian and Horticultural Societies of Edinburgh, who published in 1814 a revised version, entitled Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours, with Additions, arranged so as to render it useful to the Arts and Sciences. In Germany itself the scheme was favoured, for example, by the young polymath Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) (1772–1801), who was impressed by its analytical character. ...more

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Abraham Gottlob Werner’s books

Average rating: 4.17 · 387 ratings · 51 reviews · 39 distinct works

	Werner's Nomenclature of Colours by Abraham Gottlob Werner, Patrick Syme (Creator), William Blackwood (Creator) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2015 — 19 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	New Theory Of The Formation Of Veins; With Its Application To The Art Of Working Mines. it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2010 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Traité Des Caractères Extérieurs Des Fossiles 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Neuestes Mineral-system Von Andre 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Neue Theorie von der Entstehung der Gänge: mit Anwendung auf den Bergbau 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ausführliches und systematisches Verzeichnis des mineralien-kabinets des Weiland kurfürstlich sächsischen Berghauptmans Herrn Karl Eugen Pabst von Ohain. 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Von den Äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien... 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: The Postcards 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Abraham Gottlob Werner'S Letztes Mineralsystem: Aus Dessen Nachlasse Auf Oberbergamtliche Anordnung Hrsg. Und Mit Erláuterungen Verschen 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Ausfuhrliches Und Systematisches Verzeichnis Des Mineralien-Kabinets (1791) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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