Aristides Brezina (4 May 1848 – 25 May 1909) was an
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
mineralogist
Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...
born in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, registration_plate = W
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, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
In 1872 he graduated from the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...
, and afterwards taught
crystallography
Crystallography is the experimental science of determining the arrangement of atoms in crystalline solids. Crystallography is a fundamental subject in the fields of materials science and solid-state physics (condensed matter physics). The wor ...
at the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
. In 1878 he succeeded Austrian mineralogist
Gustav Tschermak (1836-1927) as custodian of the
meteorite
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...
collection at Vienna, and from 1889 until 1896 he was director of the ''Mineralogisch-Petrographische Abteilung'' (Department of Mineralogy-
Petrography
Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classi ...
). In 1886, he was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
Brezina is known for his study of meteorites, and with German mineralogist
Gustav Rose
Prof Gustavus ("Gustav") Rose FRSFor HFRSE (18 March 1798 – 15 July 1873) was a German mineralogist who was a native of Berlin. He was President of the German Geological Society from 1863 to 1873.
Life
He was born in Berlin the son of pharmaco ...
(1798-1873) and Tschermak, he was co-architect of the "Rose-Tschermak-Brezina classification" system for meteorites.
It was largely based on criteria such as texture and color, and was widely used from the mid-1880s to around 1920 when a simpler method of classification was proposed by
George Thurland Prior.
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
A simplified classification of meteorites and its symbolism.
Brezinaite
Brezinaite, discovered in 1969, is a rare mineral composed of chromium and sulfur. It is found in meteorites, such as the Tucson Ring meteorite (Irwin-Ainsa meteorite), its type locality. It was also found in the New Baltimore meteorite and the S ...
, a mineral found in meteorites, is named after him.
Bibliography
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* Brezina, A. (1904), "The Arrangement of Collections of Meteorites", ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society'', Vol.43, No.176, (April 1904), pp.211-247.
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See also
* Glossary of meteoritics
This is a glossary of terms used in meteoritics, the science of meteorites.
#
* 2 Pallas – an asteroid from the asteroid belt and one of the likely parent bodies of the CR meteorites.
* 4 Vesta – second-largest asteroid in the asteroid b ...
* "The New Museum Idea"
References
Biographies of Mineralogists
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brezina, Aristides
1848 births
1909 deaths
Austrian mineralogists
Scientists from Vienna
University of Tübingen alumni
Academic staff of the University of Vienna
Meteorite researchers
Members of the American Philosophical Society