Paul Niggli

Paul Niggli ( born June 26, 1888 in Zofingen, † January 13, 1953 in Zurich ) was a Swiss geoscientists and crystallographer.

Life and work

Niggli went to school in Zofingen (his father was rector of the school district in Zofingen ) and the Canton of Aarau. From 1907 he studied at the ETH Zurich natural sciences, including Albert Einstein and Pierre -Ernest Weiss. After graduating in 1911 he was briefly assistant at the Technical University of Karlsruhe on physico-chemical Institute and the PhD in 1912 at the University of Zurich, he was a post-doctoral researcher at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, DC., 1913 he was habilitated at the ETH Zurich where he was a lecturer and in 1914 professor at the University of Zurich. In 1915 he became associate professor at the University of Leipzig in 1918 and associate professor at the University of Tübingen. From 1920 until his retirement in 1953 he was Professor of Mineralogy and Petrology at ETH Zurich (as successor of his teacher Ulrich Grubenmann ), which he was Rector from 1928 to 1931. He was also from 1940 to 1942 Rector of the University of Zurich.

In 1927 he introduced the Niggli- values ​​for assessing Eruptivgesteinsanalysen.

In crystallography Niggli made ​​important contributions to teaching symmetry ( space groups ). From him the concept lattice complex, reflecting the arrangement of atoms in the crystal lattice and the comparison of crystal structures allows ( relationship of crystal structures ) comes.

1950 Niggli was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He was a member of the Swiss Geotechnical Commission and the Swiss Geological Commission. He was a founding member of the Swiss National Science Foundation and initiated the Paul Niggli Foundation, the Paul Niggli Medal awards in honor of him from 1988.

1921 to 1940 he was editor of the journal for crystallography.

His son Ernst Niggli was also a geologist.