Alexander Tornquist (18 June 1868 in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
– 1 November 1944,
Graz
Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...
) was a German-Austrian geologist, who is known for his work on the northern part of the
Trans European Suture Zone and on Mediterranean geology.
Biography
Alexander Tornquist was son of the merchant Alexander Heinrich Tornquist and Minna Mathilde Tornquist, née Fett. He studied at the universities of
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 ...
,
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
and
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
. In 1892 he received a PhD in geology and
paleontology
Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...
at the university of Göttingen. In 1901 he obtained an associate professorship for geology and paleontology at
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, and in 1907 became a full professor at
Königsberg
Königsberg (; ; ; ; ; ; , ) is the historic Germany, German and Prussian name of the city now called Kaliningrad, Russia. The city was founded in 1255 on the site of the small Old Prussians, Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teuton ...
. In Königsberg he also served as director of the famous
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n
amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin. Examples of it have been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since the Neolithic times, and worked as a gemstone since antiquity."Amber" (2004). In Maxine N. Lurie and Marc Mappen (eds.) ''Encyclopedia ...
collection and of the institute of
seismology
Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...
. He spent his later life in Graz, where he had a professorship at the
Technische Hochschule
A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...
from 1914 onward. From 1915 to 1918, he served as
dean to the chemo-technical faculty. From 1924 to 1926, Tornquist was
rector of the Technische Hochschule. Tornquistʹs bona fide involvement and expertise in the so called ''West-Styrian
beryl
Beryl ( ) is a mineral composed of beryllium aluminium Silicate minerals#Cyclosilicates, silicate with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6. Well-known varieties of beryl include emerald and Aquamarine (gem), aquamarine. Naturally occurring Hex ...
-scandal'' around fraudster Emil Johann Paul Mehling (alias Dr. Kurt Seidler) in the years 1929/30 lead to his early retirement from the university in 1933.
In 1897, Alexander Tornquist married Anna Elisabeth Henze, who was born on 9 February 1877 in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
and daughter of a sculptor. They had five children. Their daughter Erika (1903–1962) was married to
Caspar Neher
Caspar Neher (born Rudolf Ludwig Caspar Neher; 11 April 1897 – 30 June 1962) was an Austrian-German scenographer and Libretto, librettist, known principally for his career-long working relationship with Bertolt Brecht.
Neher was born in Augs ...
who is known for his lifelong cooperation with
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
. Alexander Tornquistʹs son Martin Wolfgang Tornquist (born on 31 May 1900 in Strasbourg) was a painter and studied at the
Academy of Fine Arts, Munich
The Academy of Fine Arts, Munich (, also known as Munich Academy) is one of the oldest and most significant art academies in Germany. It is located in the Maxvorstadt district of Munich, in Bavaria, Germany.
In the second half of the 19th centur ...
, where he befriended Neher. Martin was diagnosed with
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...
in 1925, repeatedly admitted to different psychiatric institutions and not released after a stay at the end of 1940. He died on 11 February 1945 becoming thus a ''victim of so-called euthanasia''.
Alexander Tornquist died in 1944 during an air raid on Graz, together with his wife and his sister Ellen Tornquist, who was born on 24 June 1872 in Hamburg and worked as a painter.
Selected works
* ''Das vicentinische Triasgebirge. Eine geologische Monographie'', 1901 – The
Vicentine Triassic
The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...
, a geological monograph.
* ''Geologischer Führer durch Ober-Italien'', 1902 – Geological guide through northern Italy.
* ''Die oberitalienischen Seen'', 1910 – The northern Italian lakes.
* ''Der baltische Bernstein: Einleitung in das Verständnis der Kgl. Bernsteinsammlung des Geologischen Instituts in Königsberg i. Pr. '', 1910 – The
Baltic amber
Baltic amber or succinite is amber from the Baltic region, home of its largest known deposits. It was produced sometime during the Eocene epoch, but exactly when is controversial. It has been estimated that this forested region provided the re ...
: Introduction for understanding the royal amber collection of the geological institute in Königsberg in Prussia
* ''Geologie von Ostpreußen'', 1910 – Geology of eastern Prussia
* ''Grundzüge der geologischen Formations- und Gebirgskunde für Studierende der Naturwissenschaften, der Geographie und des Bergfaches'', 1913 – Basics of geological formations and mountain studies, etc.
* ''Geologie'', 1916.
* ''Grundzüge der allgemeinen Geologie, für Studierende der Naturwissenschaften, der Geographie und der technischen Wissenschaften'', 1916 – Basics of general geology, for students of the natural sciences,
geography
Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...
and technical sciences.
HathiTrust Digital Library
published works
See also
* Tornquist Sea
The Tornquist Sea or Tornquist Ocean was a sea located between the palaeocontinents Avalonia and Baltica about . The remains of the sea today form a suture stretching across northern Europe ( Tornquist Zone).
Geologic evolution
...
* Tornquist Zone
References
Citations
Cited sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tornquist, Alexander Johannes Heinrich
1868 births
1944 deaths
19th-century German geologists
German paleontologists
Scientists from Hamburg
Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg
Academic staff of the University of Königsberg
Academic staff of the Graz University of Technology
20th-century German geologists
German civilians killed in World War II
Deaths by American airstrikes during World War II
German emigrants to Austria-Hungary