Ernst Heinrich Karl von Dechen (25 March 180015 February 1889) 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 ...

. He was born in

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 ...

, and was educated at 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 ...

. He subsequently studied mining in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

and

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

, and was in 1820 placed in the mining department 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 state, serving on the staff until 1864. Dechen was a professor at the University of Berlin from 1834–41, after which he became director of the Prussian mining department while stationed at

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

. In the early years he made journeys to study the mining systems of other countries, and with this object he visited England and Scotland in company with

Karl von Oeynhausen Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austri ...

(1797–1865). In the course of his work he paid special attention to the coal-formation of

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

and northern Europe generally, and he greatly furthered the progress made in mining and metallurgical works in

Rhenish Prussia The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

. He made numerous contributions to geological literature; notably the following: * ''Geognostische Umrisse der Rheinländer zwischen Basel und Mainz mit besonderer Rücksicht auf das Vorkommen des Steinsalzes'' (with von Oeynhausen and La Roche), 2 vols. (Berlin, 1825). * ''Geognostische Führer in das Siebengebirge am Rhein'' (Bonn, 1861) * ''Die nutzbaren Mineralien und Gebirgsarten im deutschen Reiche'' (1873) The work that gave him the most renown was a geological map of Rhenish Prussia and Westphalia in 35 sheets on the scale of 1-80,000, issued with two volumes of explanatory text (1855–1882). He also published a small geological map of Germany (1869). He died in Bonn in 1889.

Tributes

The mineral "Vondechenite" is named after Ernst Heinrich Karl von Dechen in 2016. The mineral "Dechenite" was named after him in 1850 by Carl Wilhelm Sigismund Bergemann.Carl Wilhelm Sigismund Bergemann, "Untersuchung einiger Mineralien (Dechenit, Gelbbleierz und arseniksaures Blei von Azulaques)", in ''Annalen der Physik und Chemie'', vol. LXXX, 1850
p. 393–403
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dechen 1800 births 1889 deaths Scientists from Berlin 19th-century German geologists People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)

Tributes

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Further reading

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