Wolf Jürgen Baron von Engelhardt (9 February 1910,

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

– 4 December 2008,

Tübingen Tübingen (, , Swabian: ''Dibenga'') is a traditional university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer rivers. about one in thr ...

) 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, althou ...

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 proces ...

. Baron von Engelhardt was a descendant of a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

noble family Engelhardt.

Biography

In the years 1929-1935, he began the study of natural sciences, in particular geology, mineralogy and chemistry at the Universities of Halle, Berlin, and Göttingen. In Halle, he became a member of the Corps Guestphalia Halle. He received his doctorate on September 18, 1935, from the mineralogist

Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (27 January 1888 in Zürich – 20 March 1947 in Oslo) was a Norwegian mineralogist considered (together with Vladimir Vernadsky) to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry, developer of the Goldsch ...

with the topic geochemistry of

barium Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in group 2 and is a soft, silvery alkaline earth metal. Because of its high chemical reactivity, barium is never found in nature as a free element. Th ...

. From 1935 to 1938 he worked as a research assistant at the Mineralogical Institute of the University of Rostock. On July 12, 1939, he obtained the habilitation at 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 ...

where he studied decay and construction of minerals in northern German

Fuller's earth Fuller's earth is any clay material that has the capability to decolorize oil or other liquids without the use of harsh chemical treatment. Fuller's earth typically consists of palygorskite (attapulgite) or bentonite. Modern uses of fuller's ea ...

. From 1939 to 1944 he was a scientific assistant at the Mineralogical Institute of the University of Göttingen with the mineralogist Carl Wilhelm Correns. From 1939 he was also employed at the University of Göttingen as a

Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...

. He was appointed lecturer in 1944. With the representation at a chair in 1944, the appointment as associate professor. From 1947 to 1952 he led the research and development department at the oil company union Elwerath in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

. From 1952 to 1957 he was able to work at the University of Göttingen as honorary professor, and then from 1 November 1957 as full professor to take over the management of the Mineralogical-Petrographic Institute of the University of Tübingen. From 1963 to 1964 Engelhardt was rector of the University of Tübingen. He retired in 1978. He then continued journalistic work in his field of

mineralogy 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 ...

Military service and Political affiliation.

From 1933 to 1934 and in 1939 he was a member of the

Sturmabteilung The (; SA; literally "Storm Detachment") was the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Its primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi ral ...

. From 1937 to 1942 he was temporarily employed in the military service to then serve from 1942 to 1945 at the

Sicherheitsdienst ' (, ''Security Service''), full title ' (Security Service of the ''Reichsführer-SS''), or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Established in 1931, the SD was the first Nazi intelligence organization ...

. From the year 1940, he was a member of the Reichsdozentenschaft, a subdivision of the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. He belonged to the

National Socialist German Lecturers League The National Socialist German Lecturers League (''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Dozentenbund'', also called ''NS-Dozentenbund'' , or abbreviated ''NSDDB''), was a party organization under the NSDAP (the Nazi Party). Origin and purpose The ...

and the National Socialist Old Masters Association from 1942 on.

Named after him

The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

4217 Engelhardt 4217 Engelhardt, provisional designation , is a stony Phocean asteroid and a potentially binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 January 1988, by American astronome ...

is named in his honour.

References

1910 births 2008 deaths Scientists from Tartu People from Kreis Dorpat Engelhardt family Baltic-German people 20th-century German geologists German mineralogists Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Tübingen Sturmabteilung personnel German military personnel of World War II Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Hans-Stille-Medaille winners Gustav-Steinmann-Medaille winners {{Germany-scientist-stub