Wolfgang Sartorius

Freiherr (; male, abbreviated as ), (; his wife, abbreviated as , literally "free lord" or "free lady") and (, his unmarried daughters and maiden aunts) are designations used as titles of nobility in the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empir ...

von Waltershausen (17 December 180916 March 1876) 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 ...

Life and work

Waltershausen was born at

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911. General information The ori ...

and educated at this city's university. There he devoted his attention to physical and natural science, and in particular to

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 proce ...

. Waltershausen was named after

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

, who was close friends with his parents. Waltershausen's father, Georg, was a writer, lecturer and professor of economics and history at Göttingen. Georg Sartorius (later Sartorius von Waltershausen) is best known in his role of translator and popularizer of Adam Smith's '' Wealth of Nations''. His son,

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named '' Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month i ...

, was a well known economist who specialized in American economy, and had at least one of his books translated into English. During a tour in 1834–1835 Waltershausen carried out a series of

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particl ...

observations in various parts of Europe. He then gave his attention to an exhaustive investigation of the

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

Mount Etna Mount Etna, or simply Etna ( it, Etna or ; scn, Muncibbeḍḍu or ; la, Aetna; grc, Αἴτνα and ), is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina ...

, in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and carried on the work with some interruptions until 1843 including with

Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters (September 19, 1813 – July 18, 1890) was a German–American university teacher and astronomer at the Litchfield Observatory of Hamilton College, New York, and a pioneer in the study and visual discovery of ...

. The chief result of this undertaking was his great ''Atlas des Ätna'' (1858–1861), in which he distinguished the

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or ...

streams formed during the later centuries. After his return from Mount Etna, Waltershausen visited

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

, and subsequently published ''Physisch-geographische Skizze von Island'' (1847), ''Über die vulkanischen Gesteine in Sizilien und Island'' (1853), and ''Geologischer Atlas von Island'' (1853). Meanwhile, he was appointed professor of mineralogy and geology at Göttingen, and held this post for about thirty years, until his death. In 1866 Waltershausen published an important essay entitled ''Recherches sur les climats de l'époque actuelle et des époques anciennes''; in this he expressed his belief that the

Ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

was due to changes in the configuration of the Earth's surface. He died at Göttingen. In 1880, Arnold von Lasaulx edited Waltershausen notes and published the book ''Der Aetna'' (cover page pictured).

''Gauss zum Gedächtnis''

Waltershausen was also the author of ''Gauss zum Gedächtnis'', in 1856. This biography, published upon the death of

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...

, is viewed as Gauss's biography as Gauss wished it to be told. It is also the source of one of the most famous mathematical quotes: ''Mathematics is the queen of the sciences''. and the famous story of Gauss as a young boy quickly finding the sum of a long string of consecutive numbers When Gauss died in Göttingen, two individuals gave eulogies at his funeral: Gauss's son-in-law

Heinrich Ewald Georg Heinrich August Ewald (16 November 18034 May 1875) was a German orientalist, Protestant theologian, and Biblical exegete. He studied at the University of Göttingen. In 1827 he became extraordinary professor there, in 1831 ordinary profess ...

, and Waltershausen who represented the faculty in Göttingen.

Commemorations

The mineral Sartorite :de:Sartorit as well as the Waltershausen Glacier in Northeast

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland ...

were named in his honour.

Notes

External links

* *
Digitized English Translation of Waltershausen book on Gauss, ''Gauss zum Gedächtnis'', 1856.

- Satorite Mineral Page

- 2nd Satorite Mineral Page

- Discussion of Waltershausen as source on Gauss numbers story including partial translation of Waltershausen book on Gauss merican Scientist online Volume 94 Number: 3 Page 200 ''Gauss's Day of Reckoning: A famous story about the boy wonder of mathematics has taken on a life of its own'', Brian Hayes

Peters' information

- Waltershausen's parents' page and information on Waltershausen family website

- Waltershausen's son's page and information on Waltershausen family website {{DEFAULTSORT:Waltershausen, Wolfgang Sartorius Von 1809 births 1876 deaths University of Göttingen alumni Barons of Germany German mineralogists German volcanologists Scientists from Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Göttingen