Karl August Lossen (born

Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, most well known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in th ...

(

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

), 5 January 1841; died

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, 24 February 1893) was a German petrologist and geologist. After finishing his studies at the gymnasium of Kreuznach in 1859 Lossen became a mining engineer; he began by two and a half years of practical work, then studied at the Universities of Berlin and

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

, where he graduated in 1866; in the same year he became assistant geologist of the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

n national geological survey. He began immediately his well-known petrolographic studies of the

Harz Mountains The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

, which lasted till his death. In 1870 he became instructor in petrology at the Berlin mining academy, and at the same time lecturer at the university. In 1873, he was made a member of the newly founded Prussian National Geological Institute, and in 1882 received the title of professor; he was a fellow of the Görres Society from its foundation. In 1886, he became an associate professor in the university. He published the results of his investigation in over one hundred treatises and notices which appeared for the most part in the ''Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft'' of 1867–1891. The work of his youth, ''De Tauni montis parte transrhenana'' (Halle, 1867), appeared independently; then in 1877 followed the maps of the geological survey of the Harz Mountains and later many special maps of the

Harz district Harz is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established by merging the former districts of Halberstadt, Wernigerode and Quedlinburg as well as the city of Falkenstein (from the district of Aschersleben- ...

, and the exhaustive work, ''Boden der Stadt Berlin'' (The Terrain of Berlin). He also wrote papers on the contact and "dynamometamorphosis" of minerals. He was considered as an authority on this subject, such that the committee in charge of the programme for the International Geological Congress in London requested him to present a paper on the origin of crystallized

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

(printed in 1888). He was made a member of Belgian, French, and English learned societies. A mineral called lossenite is named after him; it is a hydrated lead-iron sulpharsenate from the mines of Laurion in

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

Sources

;Attribution * Cites: **KAYSER in ''Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Palaeontologie'', II (Stuttgart, 1893); **VON HERTLING in ''Jahresbericht der Görresgesellschaft für 1895'' (Cologne, 1896); **KNELLER, ''Das Christentum und die Vertreter der neuern Naturwissenschaft'' (Freiberg, 1904). {{DEFAULTSORT:Lossen, Karl 1841 births 1893 deaths German mineralogists Petrologists People from Bad Kreuznach People from the Rhine Province Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin German Roman Catholics