Leopold von Buch
| Christian Leopold von Buch | |
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Christian Leopold von Buch, by Carl Joseph Begas (1850)
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| Born |
April 26, 1774 Stolpe an der Oder, Margraviate of Brandenburg, Prussia (now a part of Angermünde, Germany) |
| Died | 4 March 1853 (aged 78) Berlin, Province of Brandenburg, Prussia |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Geology |
| Known for | Definition of the Jurassic System, naming of andesites, proposing igneous differentiation by magma mixing |
| Notable awards | Wollaston Medal (1842) |
Christian Leopold von Buch (April 26, 1774 – March 4, 1853) was a German geologist and paleontologist born in Stolpe an der Oder (now a part of Angermünde, Brandenburg) and is remembered as one of the most important contributors to geology in the first half of the nineteenth century. His scientific interest was devoted to a broad spectrum of geological topics: volcanism, fossils, stratigraphy and more. His most remembered accomplishment is the scientific definition of the Jurassic system.
He was known as Leopold von Buch.
Buch studied with Alexander von Humboldt under Abraham Gottlob Werner at the mining school in Freiberg, Saxony. He afterwards completed his education at the universities of Halle and Göttingen.
He began writing on geological topics early in life. His Versuch einer mineralogischen Beschreibung von Landeck (Breslau, 1797) was translated into French (Paris, 1805), and into English as Attempt at a Mineralogical Description of Landeck (Edinburgh, 1810). In 1802 he published Entwurf einer geognostischen Beschreibung von Schlesien ("The Geognosy of Silesia"), which became the first volume of his Geognostische Beobachtungen auf Reisen durch Deutschland und Italien ("Geognistic Observations while Travelling through Germany and Italy", see below). He was at this time a zealous upholder of the Neptunian theory of Werner, with some modifications. In 1797, he met Humboldt at Salzburg, and with him explored the geological formations of Styria, and the adjoining Alps. In the spring of 1798, Buch extended his excursions into Italy, where his faith in the Neptunian theory was shaken. In his early works, he had advocated the aqueous origin of basaltic and other formations, but now he saw cause to abandon Werner's theory, and to recognize the volcanic origin of the basalts.
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