Bernhard Studer H

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(21 August 17942 May 1887), was a 19th-century Swiss

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

Biography

Studer was born at Buren an der Aare near

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

on 21 August 1794. He was the son of Samuel Emanuel Studer, a

malacologist Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

and pastor, and Maria Margaretha Walther. Studer was educated to become a clergyman, but his interests later switched to sciences. In 1815 he became a teacher of

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at the gymnasium in Bern, and during the following year, began studying geology at

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

as a pupil of Johann Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann. He subsequently furthered his education at

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In 1825 he published his first major work, ''Beyträge zu einer Monographie der Molasse''. Later on, he commenced his detailed investigations of the western

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, and published in 1834 his ''Geologie der westlichen Schweizer-Alpen''. In the same year, largely through his influence, the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

was established and he became the first professor of geology. His ''Geologie der Schweiz'' in two volumes (1851–1853), and his geological maps of Switzerland, prepared with the assistance of Arnold Escher von der Linth, are high points of his research. This cites: Obituary by Jules Marcou, ''Ann. rep. amer. acad. sci.'' for 1888. In 1850 he was elected a Foreign Member of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

. In 1859 he organized the geological survey of Switzerland, being appointed president of the commission, and retaining this position until the end of his life. It was remarked by Jules Marcou that Studer was present at the first meeting of the ''Société helvétique des sciences naturelles'' at

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

on October 6, 1815, and remained a member during 72 years. In 1864, he was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

. He was awarded the Wollaston medal by the

, in 1879.Google Books
The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London In 1882, he was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Studer, Bernhard 1794 births 1887 deaths 19th-century Swiss geologists Tectonicists Academic staff of the University of Bern University of Göttingen alumni Wollaston Medal winners Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) People from the canton of Bern University of Bern alumni International members of the American Philosophical Society