Karl Hugo Strunz
Karl Hugo Strunz, short Hugo Strunz ( born February 24, 1910 in Weiden in der Oberpfalz, † 19 April, 2006 Unterwoessen ), was a German mineralogist, professor and developer of the modern classification of minerals. (see also: classification of minerals according to Strunz in the 8th edition or 9th edition )
Education and Degrees
After graduating from high school in Regensburg Hugo Strunz began in Munich in 1929 the study of the natural sciences with an emphasis on mineralogy and received in 1933 his doctorate in philosophy at the Ludwig- Maximilians- University of Munich. Two years later he received at the TH Munich his doctoral degree in technical sciences.
1937, Strunz at the Mineralogical Museum of Berlin and became an assistant to Paul Ramdohr ( 1890-1985 ) and his habilitation in 1938.
From 1939 until the end of World War II, he taught as a lecturer in mineralogy and petrography at the Friedrich- Wilhelm University ( since 1946 Humboldt -Universität zu Berlin) in Berlin. He then taught at the Philosophical - Theological College in Regensburg Mineralogy and founded a Mineralogical- Geological Institute, which was later extended to the State Research Institute of Applied Mineralogy.
Strunz 1951 was appointed Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology at the University of Berlin, where he built a few years Mineralogical Institute, where he worked until his retirement in 1978. During this period more than 200 publications.
Strunz visited on his mineralogical research trips to most European countries and some countries in Africa, including Madagascar, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania.
He was a founding member of the International Mineralogical Association (IMA ) and 1958-1970 Chairman of the Mineral Data Commission, from 1982 Deputy Chairman. After his retirement Strunz has been curator of the Mineralogical Museum in his home.
Outstanding achievements
Karl Hugo Strunz developed for minerals on the basis of their chemical composition and crystal structure of a mineral classification, consisting of nine mineral classes (formerly and since 2001, ten mineral classes), which first appeared in 1941. Since that time, these " Mineralogical Tables" were constantly adapted to the current state of knowledge, translated into several languages and have become a standard work for mineral taxonomists.
He discovered 14 new mineral species such as Laueit, Hagendorfit, Chudobait, Fleischerit, Stranskiit, Liandradit and Petscheckit.
Works (excerpt)
The most famous work of Strunz Mineralogical Tables are a complete work on the classification of minerals on crystal chemical principles with an introduction to the crystal chemistry, the first time in 1941 appeared. The 4th edition has been completely revised in 1966 with the assistance of Christel Tennyson and expanded, updated to the 8th edition 1982 again and again and translated into several languages. The 9th edition was published in 2001 in English and with the assistance of Ernest H. Nickel entitled Mineralogical tables: chemical structural mineral classification System.
Another important standard work, Klock 's Textbook of Mineralogy (ISBN 3-432-82986-8 ), was told by Strunz in cooperation with Ramdohr up to the 16th edition 1978 a complete revision and re-publication.
In 1932, a study published Strunz About structural relationships between phosphates ( Triphylin ) and silicates ( olivine ) and on the chemical composition of Ardennite and Narsarsukit. There followed a description about the relationship of the silicates with the phosphates and arsenates (1936) and on the chemical composition and structure of Rhodizite and Jeremejewit ( 1939).
1947 brought out a Strunz Geological Overview panel for Central Europe (among others), he again revised in 1948. In the same year he struggled with structure and shape to an easy to understand introduction to crystallography.
Another reservoir description was followed in 1953 with minerals and deposits in eastern Bavaria.
1970 Strunz wrote a treatise from the Mining Academy of the Technical University Berlin and five years later to mineralogy and geology of the Upper Palatinate.
Honors
1985 Hugo Strunz was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st class. He was an honorary member of over twenty national and international scientific societies and academies such as the German Mineralogical Society, the Mineralogical Society of America, the Mineralogical Society of England, the Gemmological Society of Japan and the Mineralogical Society of the USSR. Since 1995 he was an honorary member of the Munich Mineralienfreunde eV
Furthermore Strunz was one of the senators of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, to which he belonged since 1968, and owner of Boricky Medal of Charles University in Prague.
The minerals Strunzite, Ferristrunzit and Ferrostrunzit are named after him.