Auguste Jaccard (6 July 1833, in Culliairy near Sainte-Croix – 5 January 1895, in

Le Locle Le Locle (; ) is a Communes of Switzerland, municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Swit ...

) was a 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, ...

and

paleontologist 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 geolo ...

. His scientific research, for the most part, was associated with the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...

. In around 1845, he moved with his father to Le Locle, where the elder Jaccard opened a

guilloché Guilloché (), or guilloche (), is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name. Engine turning m ...

workshop that was later managed by his son. As a geologist, Auguste Jaccard was self-taught, having

Oswald Heer Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 August 1809 – 27 September 1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist, was born at Niederuzwil in Canton of St. Gallen and died in Lausanne. Biography Oswald Heer was educated as a clergyman at Halle and t ...

and

Pierre Jean Édouard Desor Pierre Jean Édouard Desor (13 February 1811, Friedrichsdorf, Grand Duchy of Hesse23 February 1882) was a Swiss geologist and naturalist. Biography Desor studied law at Giessen and Heidelberg, was compromised in the republican movements of 1832/ ...

as important influences to his career. In 1856 he released his first publication, a treatise on fossils found in the basin of Le Locle.Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz
biography From 1861 he was a member of the geological survey group of the ''Société helvétique des sciences naturelles'' (Swiss Society of Natural Sciences), tasked with mapping the western part of the Jura Mountains. In 1868 he became a substitute teacher at the

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, ; ; ) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital (political), capital of the cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Neuchâtel (canton), Neuchâtel on Lake Neuchâtel ...

Academy, where he later served as a professor (1873–95). He is credited with creating a geological map that extended to the western part of Switzerland (

, Jura and

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

). He also conducted

applied research Applied science is the application of the scientific method and scientific knowledge to attain practical goals. It includes a broad range of disciplines, such as engineering and medicine. Applied science is often contrasted with basic science, ...

in the field of

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

and of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

and

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

. In 1883 he was awarded with an honorary doctorate from the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

Selected works

* ''Supplément ä la Description géologique du Jura vaudois et neuchâtelois'', 1870 – Supplement to the geological description of Jura and Neuchâtel, * ''Coup d'oeil sur les origines et le développement de la paléontologie en Suisse'', 1887 – The origins and development of paleontology in Switzerland. * ''Le pétrole, l'asphalte et le bitume au point de vue géologique'', 1895 – Petroleum, asphalt and bitumen from a geological viewpoint.Catalog HathiTrust
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaccard, Auguste 1833 births 1895 deaths Swiss paleontologists 19th-century Swiss geologists Swiss cartographers People from Jura-North Vaudois District