Otto Heinrich Erdmannsdörffer (11 March 1876,

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

– 19 April 1955, Heidelberg) was a German

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 ...

and

petrographer 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 class ...

, known for his analysis of rocks and minerals found in the

Odenwald The Odenwald () is a low mountain range in the German states of Hesse, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. Location The Odenwald is located between the Upper Rhine Plain with the Bergstraße and the ''Hessisches Ried'' (the northeastern section ...

, the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

and 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 ...

. He was the son of historian Bernhard Erdmannsdörffer. He studied natural sciences at the universities of

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1900. For the next twelve years he worked as a research assistant at the Prussian Geological Survey, and in the meantime, obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in mineralogy and

petrology Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous and metamorphic petrology are commonly taught together ...

from the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

(1908). In 1912 he was appointed chair of mineralogy and petrology at the

Technical University of Hannover Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover (german: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität), also known as the University of Hannover, is a public research university located in Hanover, Germany. Founded on 2 May 1831 as Higher Vocational Sc ...

, and in 1926 returned to Heidelberg,Einstein - Görner
edited by Rudolf Vierhaus where he succeeded

Ernst Anton Wülfing Ernst Anton Wülfing (27 November 1860, Elberfeld – 17 December 1930, Bad Wörishofen) was a German mineralogist and petrographer, known for his research on the optical properties of minerals and meteorites. He studied chemistry at Geneva and at ...

as director of the mineralogical-petrographic institute. In 1932 he was named

academic rector A rector (Latin for 'ruler') is a senior official in an educational institution, and can refer to an official in either a university or a secondary school. Outside the English-speaking world the rector is often the most senior official in a un ...

at Heidelberg.Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1803–1932
by Dagmar Drüll In 1953 he was awarded the

Hans-Stille-Medaille The Hans Stille Medal was a scientific award of the ''Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften'' (German Society for Geosciences), given to an individual who made outstanding contributions in the fields of geology and earth sciences. The award ...

by the ''Deutsche Geologische Gesellschaft''. He was an editor of the journal ''Heidelberger Beiträge zur Mineralogie und Petrographie''.

Selected works

* ''Grundlagen der Petrographiem'' 1924 – Fundamentals of petrography. * ''Südostmazedonien und Kleinasien'', 1925 – Southeastern Macedonia and

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

. * ''Über Disthen-Andalusitparagenesen'', 1928 – On

kyanite Kyanite is a typically blue aluminosilicate mineral, found in aluminium-rich metamorphic pegmatites and sedimentary rock. It is the high pressure polymorph of andalusite and sillimanite, and the presence of kyanite in metamorphic rocks generally ...

andalusite Andalusite is an aluminium nesosilicate mineral with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. This mineral was called andalousite by Delamétehrie, who thought it came from Andalusia, Spain. It soon became clear that it was a locality error, and that the spe ...

paragenesis Paragenesis is a petrologic concept meaning an ''equilibrium sequence of mineral phases''. It is used in studies of igneous and metamorphic rock genesis and importantly in studies of the hydrothermal deposition of ore minerals and the rock alteratio ...

. * ''Über Alkalihornblenden aus dem Radautal'', 1929 – On alkali

hornblende Hornblende is a complex inosilicate series of minerals. It is not a recognized mineral in its own right, but the name is used as a general or field term, to refer to a dark amphibole. Hornblende minerals are common in igneous and metamorphic rocks ...

from the

Radau Radau is a river of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is right tributary of the Oker. It rises in the Harz range, leaves the mountains at Bad Harzburg, and discharges into the Oker near Vienenburg. Course The river rises at around in the Upper Harz re ...

valley. * ''Die Syenite des Radautales im Harz als palingene Eruptiva'', 1930 – The

syenite Syenite is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock with a general composition similar to that of granite, but deficient in quartz, which, if present at all, occurs in relatively small concentrations (< 5%). Some syenites contain larger proport ...

of the Radau valley in the Harz as palingenetic-eruptive. * ''Über den Buchonit von Poppenhausen in der Rhön'', 1933 – On the buchonite of

Poppenhausen Poppenhausen is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the district of Schweinfurt (district), Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany. It consists of the following six localities: Hain, Kronungen, Kützberg, Maibach, Pfersdorf, Poppenhausen. Ref ...

in the

Rhön Mountains The Rhön Mountains () are a group of low mountains (or ''Mittelgebirge'') in central Germany, located around the border area where the states of Hesse, Bavaria and Thuringia come together. These mountains, which are at the extreme southeast end o ...

. * ''Beiträge zur Petrographie des Odenwaldes'', 1941 – Contribution to the petrography of the Odenwald. * ''Über Flasergranite und Böllsteiner Gneis'', 1949 – On flaser

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and Böllstein

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

.Most widely held works by Otto Heinrich Erdmannsdörffer
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erdmannsdorffer, Otto 1876 births 1955 deaths Scientists from Heidelberg Heidelberg University alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University University of Strasbourg alumni Academic staff of the University of Hanover German mineralogists Petrologists