Christian Leopold von Buch
Christian Leopold von Buch ( born April 26, 1774 Stolpe an der Oder, † March 4, 1853 in Berlin) was a geologist and is considered one of the most important representatives of his profession in the 19th century. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " book".
Life and work
From book came from an old noble family from the Uckermark. He studied with Alexander von Humboldt at the Mining Academy in Freiberg Abraham Gottlob Werner, the founder of geology in Germany, and at the universities of Halle and Göttingen. As Werner's students, he was initially a supporter of Neptunism, but he changed his mind and switched over to plutonism. From book traveled widely in Europe and is regarded as one of the first geological field research.
The main focus of his broad geological studies was initially the phenomenon of volcanism, later he turned to the fossil research. He coined the term index fossil and is considered one of the founders of stratigraphy. One of his greatest achievements is considered his 1839 published in book form scientific definition of the rock system of the Jura. He introduced in 1822 the concept of the Keuper ( Upper Triassic) in the scientific parlance, a, but still uses it as the name for a rock, which he then assigned the Buntsandstein ( Lower Triassic). In 1826 he published the first complete geological map of Germany. His geological description of the valley of the Caldera de Taburiente on the Canary island of La Palma introduced the term caldera as volcanic collapse crater in the Earth Sciences on ( but later it turned out that this type locality no caldera in the true sense is ). He was a member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences.
From book died on 4 March 1853 at the age of 78 in Berlin. According to him, awarded annually Leopold von Buch- badge of the Geological Society ( DGG ) is named, whose co-founder and first president he was. Leopold von Buch is buried in the family vault of the former book Stumbling Park.
Honors and Memberships
In 1818 he was elected a member of the Learned Society Leopoldina. On May 31, 1842 received from book together with others the first ever medal Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts. In the same year he was awarded the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London.
In 1850 he was made an honorary member of the Nassau Association for Natural History.
To commemorate his achievements in the understanding of volcanic craters of the book crater on the Moon is named after him. An Intercity Express and several streets bear his name. Also in the epithet of various plant species, such as Lavandula buchii from the Canary Islands, he was honored.
The Leopold- of - book - plaque of the Geological Society is named in his honor. He received a 1905 Göttingen plaque that was renewed in 1953.
Writings
- Travel through Norway and Lapland, 1810 ( digitized )
- Concerning the composition of the basaltic islands and survey craters, 1820 ( digitized )
- Some remarks on the climate of the Canary Islands, 1821 ( digitized )
- Physicalische description of the Canary Islands, 1825 ( digitized )
- About the law in Germany, 1839