Franz Eugen Geinitz (15 February 1854,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

– 9 March 1925,

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, ...

) was a German

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, althoug ...

and

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 proce ...

best known for his geological studies of the

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

region. He was the son of geologist

Hanns Bruno Geinitz Hanns Bruno Geinitz (16 October 1814 – 28 January 1900) was a German geologist, born at Altenburg, the capital of Saxe-Altenburg. He was educated at the universities of Berlin and Jena, and gained the foundations of his geological knowledge ...

Biography

In 1876 he obtained his PhD from the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

with a dissertation on mineral

pseudomorph In mineralogy, a pseudomorph is a mineral or mineral compound that appears in an atypical form (crystal system), resulting from a substitution process in which the appearance and dimensions remain constant, but the original mineral is replaced b ...

s. During the following year he received his habilitation from the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

, and shortly afterwards, became an associate professor of geology and mineralogy at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

. In 1881 he became a full professor and director of the mineralogical-geological institute at Rostock. In 1903/04 he served as university rector.Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
biographical sketch In 1882 he was named head of the Mecklenburg Geological Landesmuseum. In 1905 he was co-founder of the Mecklenburg ''Heimatbund''.

Selected works

* ''Das Erdbeben von Iquique am 9. Mai 1877 und die durch dasselbe verursachte Erdbebenfluth im Grossen Ocean'', 1878 – Paper on the

1877 Iquique earthquake The 1877 Iquique earthquake occurred at 21:16 local time on 9 May (0:59 on 10 May UTC). It had a magnitude of 8.5 on the surface wave magnitude scale. Other estimates of its magnitude have been as high as 8.9 and 9.0 (based on the size of the ...

, about which, Geinitz conducted an analysis of ocean waves taken from data collected at various faraway locations in the Pacific ( Hawaiian Islands,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, Japan, etc.). From this data he was able to calculate the mean velocity of the ocean waves and make a determination of the corresponding mean depths of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

along the routes taken by the waves. * ''Die skandinavischen Plagioklasgesteine und Phonolith aus dem mecklenburgischen Diluvium'', 1882 – The Scandinavian

plagioclase Plagioclase is a series of tectosilicate (framework silicate) minerals within the feldspar group. Rather than referring to a particular mineral with a specific chemical composition, plagioclase is a continuous solid solution series, more pro ...

rocks and phonolites of the Mecklenburg

Diluvium Diluvium is an archaic term applied during the 1800s to widespread surficial deposits of sediments that could not be explained by the historic action of rivers and seas. Diluvium was initially argued to have been deposited by the action of extra ...

. * ''Geologischer Führer durch Mecklenburg. Mit einer Übersichtskarte und 15 Tafeln'', 1899 – Geological guide for Mecklenburg. * ''Das Quartär von Nordeuropa. Die Flora und Fauna des Quartärs'', 1904 – The Northern European Quaternary, the flora and fauna of the Quaternary. * ''Landeskunde von Mecklenburg'', 1907 – Regional studies of Mecklenburg. * ''Die Eiszeit'', 1906 – The Ice Age. * ''Das Diluvium Deutschlands''; 1920 – The German Diluvium. * ''Geologie Mecklenburgs, mit geologischer Übersichtskarte von Mecklenburg'', 1922 – Geology of Mecklenburg, with geological overview charts.HathiTrust Digital Library
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geinitz, Eugen 1854 births 1925 deaths Scientists from Dresden Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the University of Rostock German mineralogists 19th-century German geologists 20th-century German geologists