Georg Julius Ernst Gürich (25 September 1859, in Dobrodzień,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

: Guttentag;

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, locate ...

– 16 August 1938 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

) was a German geologist,

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and university teacher, who wrote on

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

geological formations in PolandGürich, "Das Paläozoikum des Polnischen Mittelgebirge", ''Verhandlungen der Russischen Kaiserlichen Gesellschaft zu Saint Petersburg'' 32 1898:1–539). and ranged through Guinea,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

(at the time German colonies), in search of unrecorded new species. Georg Gürich studied geology in Breslau/Wroclaw (1884–1891, Ph.D. 1882). In 1885, he first went to Africa, participating in a German scientific expedition to

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and travelled in the western Sudan (1885), and in South-West Africa, now

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

(May 1888 to January 1889), mostly in the western mountains from Otjitambi to Rehoboth, to do geological research on behalf of the "Southwest African Gold Syndicate" (''Südwestafrikanisches Goldsyndikat''), with the aim of exploring alleged deposits of gold. The gold did not materialise, but his published geographical account ''Deutsch-Südwestafrika. Reisebilder aus den Jahren 1888 und 1889'' contains substantial additional information on the current political and social conditions in Namibia. In the following years, he travelled widely in Europe, Australia, Venezuela and Alaska and returned to Africa. In 1910 he became Director of the Geological Institute at the Hamburg Colonial Institute (later part of the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (german: link=no, Universität Hamburg, also referred to as UHH) is a public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('' Allgemeines Vo ...

) He followed up his paleontological research on Namibia, with another field trip in 1928, resulting in many scientific publications. He retired in 1934, and died in

on 16 August 1938.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurich, Georg 1859 births 1938 deaths People from Olesno County People from the Province of Silesia 20th-century German geologists 19th-century German geologists