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Eduard Suess (; 20 August 1831 - 26 April 1914) was an Austrian
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, alt ...
and an expert on the
geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...
of the
Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...
. He is responsible for hypothesising two major former geographical features, the
supercontinent In geology, a supercontinent is the assembly of most or all of Earth's continental blocks or cratons to form a single large landmass. However, some geologists use a different definition, "a grouping of formerly dispersed continents", which lea ...
Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final st ...
(proposed in 1861) and the Tethys Ocean.


Biography

Eduard Suess was born on 20 August 1831 in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England, the oldest son of Adolph Heinrich Suess, a Lutheran
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country ( Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the No ...
merchant, and mother Eleonore Friederike Zdekauer. Adolph Heinrich Suess was born on 11 March 1797 in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
,
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
and died on 24 May 1862 in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
,
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
,
German confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire ...
; Eleonore Friederike Zdekauer was born in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, nowadays part of the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...
, which once belonged to the
Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
and the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
. When Eduard Suess was born, his family relocated to
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, and then to
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
when he was 14. He became interested in
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
at a young age. While working as an assistant at the Hofmuseum in Vienna, he published his first paper—on the geology of
Carlsbad Carlsbad may refer to: *Carlsbad, California, United States *Carlsbad, New Mexico, United States *Carlsbad, Texas, United States *Karlovy Vary Karlovy Vary (; german: Karlsbad, formerly also spelled ''Carlsbad'' in English) is a spa town, spa ...
(in present-day
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...
)—when he was 19. In 1855, Suess married Hermine Strauss, the daughter of a prominent physician from Prague. Their marriage produced five sons and one daughter. In 1856, he was appointed professor of paleontology 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 h ...
, and in 1861 was appointed professor of geology. He gradually developed views on the connection between
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
and
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
. Eventually, he concluded that the Alps to the north were once at the bottom of an ocean, of which the Mediterranean was a remnant. Suess was not correct in his analysis, which was predicated upon the notion of "contractionism"—the idea that the Earth is cooling down and, therefore, contracting. Nevertheless, he is credited with postulating the earlier existence of the Tethys Ocean, which he named in 1893. He claimed in 1885 that land bridges had connected South America, Africa, India, Australia, and Antarctica. He named this ancient broken continent
Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final st ...
land. Suess published a comprehensive synthesis of his ideas between 1885 and 1901 titled ''Das Antlitz der Erde'' (''The Face of the Earth''), which was a popular textbook for many years. In volume two of this massive three-volume work, Suess set out his belief that across geologic time, the rise and fall of sea levels were mappable across the earth—that is, that the periods of ocean transgression and
regression Regression or regressions may refer to: Science * Marine regression, coastal advance due to falling sea level, the opposite of marine transgression * Regression (medicine), a characteristic of diseases to express lighter symptoms or less extent ( ...
were correlateable from one continent to another. His theory was based upon glossopteris fern fossils occurring in South America, Africa, and India. His explanation was that the three lands were once connected in a supercontinent, which he named Gondwanaland. Again, this is not quite correct: Suess believed that the oceans flooded the spaces currently between those lands. In his work ''Die Entstehung der Alpen'', Suess also introduced the concept of the
biosphere The biosphere (from Greek βίος ''bíos'' "life" and σφαῖρα ''sphaira'' "sphere"), also known as the ecosphere (from Greek οἶκος ''oîkos'' "environment" and σφαῖρα), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be ...
, which was later extended by
Vladimir I. Vernadsky Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Ива́нович Верна́дский) or Volodymyr Ivanovych Vernadsky ( uk, Володи́мир Іва́нович Верна́дський;  – 6 January 1945) was ...
in 1926. Suess wrote: He was elected a member of 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 communi ...
in 1886 and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1895. He received the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London in 1896 and he won the
Copley Medal The Copley Medal is an award given by the Royal Society, for "outstanding achievements in research in any branch of science". It alternates between the physical sciences or mathematics and the biological sciences. Given every year, the medal is t ...
of the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
in 1903. Suess died on 26 April 1914 in Vienna. He is buried in the town of
Marz Marz may refer to: People * Marz (surname), notable people surnamed either Marz or März * Marz (rapper), American rapper * Marz Lovejoy, American hip hop musician and rapper Places * Marz, Austria, a town in the district of Mattersburg, Burgen ...
in
Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...
, Austria.


Legacy

Suess is considered one of the early practitioners of
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
.
Suess Land Suess Land is a peninsula in King Christian X Land, East Greenland. Administratively it is part of the Northeast Greenland National Park. History This peninsula was named by A.G. Nathorst after Austrian geologist Eduard Suess (1831–1914) at t ...
in Greenland, the lunar crater ''
Suess Suess may refer to: * Süß, a German surname transliterated as Suess *Eduard Suess (1831–1914), an Austrian geologist **Suess (lunar crater), named for the geologist **Suess (Martian crater), named for the geologist **Suess Glacier, a glacier i ...
'', as well as the crater ''
Suess Suess may refer to: * Süß, a German surname transliterated as Suess *Eduard Suess (1831–1914), an Austrian geologist **Suess (lunar crater), named for the geologist **Suess (Martian crater), named for the geologist **Suess Glacier, a glacier i ...
'' on Mars, are named after him.


Franz Eduard Suess

His son, Franz Eduard Suess (1867–1941), was superintendent and geologist at the ''Imperial Geological Institute'' in Vienna, who studied moldavites and coined the term
tektite Tektites (from grc, τηκτός , meaning 'molten') are gravel-sized bodies composed of black, green, brown or grey natural glass formed from terrestrial debris ejected during meteorite impacts. The term was coined by Austrian geologist Fra ...
. The asteroid 12002 Suess, discovered by Czech astronomers Petr Pravec and
Lenka Kotková Lenka Kotková (''née'' Šarounová; born 26 July 1973) is a Czech astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets. She works at Observatoř Ondřejov (Ondřejov Observatory), located near Prague. Besides numerous main-belt asteroids she also ...
in 1996, was named in his honor.


Works

* ''Über die Brachiopoden der Kössener Schichten'' (1854) * ''Der Boden der Stadt Wien'' (1862) * ''Die Entstehung der Alpen'' (1875) * ''Das Antlitz der Erde'' in three volumes (1885–1909) *
''La face de la terre'', (1897–1918)
translation de l'allemand par Emmanuel de Margerie, préface par Marcel Bertrand *
''The Face of the Earth'', trans. of ''Das Antlitz der Erde'' in 5 vols. (1904–1924)
ref>
* ''Erinnerungen'' (1916)


References

* *


External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Suess, Eduard 1831 births 1914 deaths 19th-century Austrian geologists Tectonicists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Royal Society Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Copley Medal Wollaston Medal winners Austrian Protestants Austrian people of British descent Austrian people of German descent People from London Scientists from Prague Scientists from Vienna Members of the American Philosophical Society