Heinrich Cotta

Johann Heinrich Cotta, also Heinrich von Cotta, (30 October 1763 – 25 October 1844) was a German silviculturist who was a native of Kleine Zillbach, near Wasungen, Thuringia. He was founder of the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry, in Tharandt, and is known as a pioneer of scientific forestry. He was the father of geologist Bernhard von Cotta (1808–1879).

Cotta reportedly said of himself:

Initially learning forestry from his father, in 1784–85 Cotta enrolled at the University of Jena, where he studied mathematics, natural sciences and cameralism (public administration). In 1785, he returned to Zillbach to teach forestry at one of the earliest master schools of forestry, with his father. In 1801 he became a member of the forestry college in Eisenach, while continuing his work at Zillbach. During this time his reputation grew, and in 1810 Cotta was appointed director of Forstvermessung und Taxation (Forest Mensuration and Taxation) by Frederick Augustus I of Saxony.

In 1811 he established a forestry school at Tharandt, near Dresden, together with its arboretum, the Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt, still in existence. The school later would be known as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry; and lives on today as site of the Department of Forestry of Dresden University of Technology. The new forestry school attracted students throughout Europe, and in 1813 was visited by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In 1841 Cotta was given an award by Tsar Nicholas I in recognition of his efforts at Tharandt.

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