Abraham Gottlob Werner
1749-1817
German Naturalist
Abraham Gottlob Werner wrote the first modern textbook of descriptive mineralogy, Vonden äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien (1774; "On the External Characters of Fossils"). Taking issue with existing schools of thought regarding classification of minerals, he propounded his own theories of "geognosy" and "Neptunism." Ultimately Werner's views became insufferably dogmatic and impervious to conflicting evidence, but his early contributions were so great that he is remembered as one ofthe key figures in the establishment of mineralogy as a science.
Werner was born on September 25, 1749, in Wehrau, then part of Prussian Silesia and now part of eastern Germany. His family had worked in mining for many generations, and his father had a job as overseer at a metal foundry near Wehrau. By the age of 15, Werner had left school to work as his father's assistant, but he soon grew so interested in mining that he entered Freiberg's Mining Academy in 1769.
Having completed his course of studies at Freiberg, Werner in 1771 entered the University of Leipzig. There he became aware of problems in the existing systems for classifying minerals, of which there were many. Most, however, fell under two general headings: classification by chemical composition, and classification by physical characteristics. Displeased with this arrangement, Werner set to work, and within just a year's time produced Vonden äusserlichen Kennzeichen der Fossilien.
He was only 25 years old, and not only had he produced the first textbook in modern mineralogy, but Werner introduced a new means of classification that synthesized elements of the two existing systems. As brilliant as the book was, however, it also revealed the first traces of his dogmatism: in discussing crystalline forms, he revealed a prejudice against using mathematics in mineralogy, and treated crystallography as mere applied mathematics.
Soon after publishing his monumental book, Werner returned to Wehrau and went to work in the field, visiting mines and collecting minerals. But his work had so impressed the administration of the Mining Academy in Freiberg that they offered him a position as inspector and teacher of mining and mineralogy in 1775. As a teacher, Werner proved himself capable of stimulating curiosity and enthusiasm in his students, but he also imbued them with his zeal for an increasingly rigid account of the Earth's formation.
Defining his subject as "geognosy," or knowledge of the Earth, Werner claimed to offer an account of rock formations that avoided the wild speculations of many naturalists at the time. In fact his own system was at least as speculative as any of the ideas then being seriously considered by naturalists. Convinced that the Earth had once been completely covered by ocean—a school of thought dubbed "Neptunism"—Werner eventually succumbed to the vice of construing data to fit his theory.
He was convinced that the Earth was cold inside, and thus he dismissed volcanic rocks as the product of recent activity. Werner's conception of the Earth also forced him to ignore the potential of disturbances on the crust—folding or tilting that results in earthquakes—as evidence of seething energy within the planet's core.
Not surprisingly, Werner became more unshakable in his ideas as time passed and he grew older. He had no family to soften him: as a bachelor, his students took the place of a wife and children. He retired to Dresden, where on June 30, 1817, he died.
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