Portrait of Abraham Gottlob Werner

People/geologist, scientist

Abraham Gottlob Werner

Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749–1817), geologist, scientist, from Germany.

The lucky break

Studied mining at the Freiberg Mining Academy from 1769 and in March 1775 became academy inspector and teacher of mineralogy and mining.1,2,3

Legacy

His Freiberg teaching drew students such as Alexander von Humboldt. He died in Dresden and was buried in Freiberg.1,2,3

Story cards

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People

InspiredAlexander von HumboldtHis Freiberg teaching drew students such as Alexander von Humboldt.1An example ofHans Carl von CarlowitzFreiberg taught mining long before Werner: Carlowitz led its mines from 1711.4Inspired byGeorgius Agricola (Georg Bauer)Agricola's De re metallica came in 1556. Werner taught mining at Freiberg from 1775.5

Mines

Worked atFreiberg silver mining districtHe taught mineralogy at the Freiberg Mining Academy.1

Sources

  1. Werner, Abraham Gottlob Neue Deutsche Biographie / Deutsche Biographie
  2. Humboldt, Alexander von Neue Deutsche Biographie / Deutsche Biographie
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. Carlowitz, Hans Carl von Neue Deutsche Biographie / Deutsche Biographie
  5. Agricola, Georgius Neue Deutsche Biographie / Deutsche Biographie (Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Bavarian State Library)

Pictures on this page: Abraham Gottlob Werner.jpg, Christian Leberecht Vogel (Public domain); Stieler, Joseph Karl - Alexander von Humboldt - 1843.jpg, Joseph Karl Stieler (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Bucket wheel excavators by bluecloud9, CC BY-SA 2.0; Longwall mining by Bochum1805, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Pictures: Potosi, Bolivia, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).