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 of the 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...