Georg Amadeus Carl Friedrich Naumann (30 May 1797 – 26 November 1873), also known as Karl Friedrich Naumann, 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 proce ...

and

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, althoug ...

. The crater Naumann on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

is named after him.

Life

Naumann was born at

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, the son of a distinguished musician and composer. He received his early education at

Pforta Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercian monastery (1137–1540), near Naumburg on the Saale River in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school since the 16th century. Notable p ...

, studied at

Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...

under Werner, and afterwards at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

. He graduated at Jena, and was occupied in 1823 in teaching in that town and in 1824 at Leipzig. In 1826 he succeeded Mohs as professor of crystallography, in 1835 he became professor also of

geognosy Abraham Gottlob Werner (; 25 September 174930 June 1817) was a German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth's crust and propounded a history of the Earth that came to be known as Neptunism. While most tene ...

; and in 1842 he was appointed professor of mineralogy and geognosy in the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

. At Freiberg he was charged with the preparation of a geological map of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, which he carried out with the aid of

Bernhard von Cotta Carl Bernhard von Cotta, known as Bernhard von Cotta (24 October 180814 September 1879), was a German geologist. Life He was born in a forester's lodge at Kleine Zillbach, Meiningen, near Eisenach, the son of Heinrich Cotta, Heinrich von Cotta, ...

in 1846. Naumann was a man of encyclopedic knowledge, lucid and fluent as a teacher. Early in life (1821-1822) he traveled in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, and his observations on that country, and his subsequent publications on crystallography, mineralogy and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

. His sketches were admired by Caspar David Friedrich and Carl Gustav Carus, who copied them to use as material for their paintings. In 1869, he was elected as a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) 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, a ...

in 1873. He died at Leipzig that year. He published ''Beiträge zur Kenntniss Norwegens'' (2 vols., 1824); ''Lehrbuch der Mineralogie'' (1828)
''Lehrbuch der reinen und angewandten Krystallographie''
(2 vols. and atlas, 1830); ''Elemente der Mineralogie'' (1846; ed. 9, 1874; the 10th ed. by F. Zirkel, 1877); and ''Lehrbuch der Geognosie'' (2 vols. and atlas, 1849-1854
ed. 2
1858-1872).

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naumann, Karl Friedrich 1797 births 1873 deaths Scientists from Dresden People from the Electorate of Saxony 19th-century German geologists Leipzig University alumni Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Wollaston Medal winners