Christoffer Puggaard by Herman Wilhelm Bissen

Christopher Puggaard (or Hans Christopher Wilhelm Puggaard, born on 23 May 1823 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and died on 14 August 1864 in

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

) was a Danish

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 ...

Early life and education

Puggaard was born on 23 May 1923 in

, the son of the son of

Hans Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

and

Bolette Puggaard Bolette Cathrine Frederikke Puggaard née Hage (1798–1847) was a landscape painter of the Danish Golden Age, one of very few 19th-century Danish women whose art extended beyond flower paintings. She and her husband, the merchant and shipowne ...

. His elder brother was the later businessman

Rudolph Puggaard Rudolph Puggaard (7 January 1818 – 9 December 1885) was a Danish merchant, patron of the arts and philanthropist. Early life and education Puggaard was born into a family of merchants on 7 January 1818 in Copenhagen. His father, Hans Puggaard ...

. He studied at

Roskilde Cathedral School Roskilde Cathedral School ( da, Roskilde Katedralskole, Roskilde Domskole) is a historic high school in Roskilde, Denmark. It was established around 1020 with close connections to Roskilde Cathedral. The school has since 1969 been located on Holbæ ...

, whereupon he studied in the polytechnic school and got his diploma in natural science in 1846. He was fascinated in particular by the classes of the country's leading geologist,

Johan Georg Forchhammer Johan Georg Forchhammer (26 July 1794 – 14 December 1865) was a Danish mineralogist and geologist. Early life and education Forchhammer was born at Husum, Schleswig. He studied at the universities of Kiel and Copenhagen from 1815 to 1818. C ...

. He travelled then to further his studies in England and Paris and later Italy, together with his friend the painter

Wilhelm Marstrand Nicolai Wilhelm Marstrand (24 December 1810 – 25 March 1873), painter and illustrator, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to Nicolai Jacob Marstrand, instrument maker and inventor, and Petra Othilia Smith. Marstrand is one of the most renowned ar ...

Career

In 1851, Puggaard published in Danish his book on the geology of the Island of

Møn Møn () is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingbo ...

(''Möens Geologie. Populært fremstillet. Tillige som Veiviser for Besögende af Möens Klint'') which was rewarded with the gold medal of the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

. The book was later slightly changed and translated into German under the title ''Geologie der Insel Möen''. Following this publication, the

University of Bern The University of Bern (german: Universität Bern, french: Université de Berne, la, Universitas Bernensis) is a university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern and was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the Canton of Bern. It ...

gave him the title of Doctor in Philosophy. The book was illustrated by some of the best painters of the Danish Golden age, such as

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Southern Jutland region of Denmark. He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Dani ...

P.C. Skovgaard Peter Christian Thamsen Skovgaard (known as P. C. Skovgaard; 4 April 1817 – 13 April 1875) was a Danish national romantic landscape painter. He is one of the main figures associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. He is especially known ...

and

Vilhelm Kyhn Peter Vilhelm Carl Kyhn (March 30, 1819 – May 11, 1903) was a Danish landscape painter who belonged to the generation of national romantic painters immediately after the Danish Golden Age and before the Modern Breakthrough. Even though he outliv ...

. Based on the sedimentary layers and fossils, Puggaard provides a fantastic narrative on how our planet developed from a globe of fluid stone into the progressive development of life. After being submerged in an ocean inhabited with tropical species, the site of Møn became covered by an Arctic Ocean with icebergs, and finally emerged as a wooded island populated by Stone Age men and mammoths. In this regard his views were opposed to Forchhammers and ahead of their time. Puggaard also later published various contributions on the geology of the

Sorrento Peninsula The Sorrento Peninsula or Sorrentine Peninsula is a peninsula located in southern Italy which separates the Gulf of Naples to the north from the Gulf of Salerno to the south. Geography Overview The peninsula is named after its main town, Sorr ...

and the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

. Puggaard died young, while doing research on the cliffs in Normandy.

Personal life

Puggaard was married to Louise Henriette Amalie Wormstrup (1817-1911). They had three daughters: Clara Louise Pauline Puggaard. Alice Helene Puggaard and Gerda Puggaard. Puggaard lived in the Hjuleberg Manor in

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebro ...

, Sweden. He was the grandfather of novelist Jacob Paludan. The Puggaard Stone, a giant stone located in the water off Møns Klint, is named after him.

Bibliography

* Puggaard, Hans Kristofer Wilhelm'', in Carl Frederik Bricka, Dansk Biografisk Leksikon'' (1st edition, 1899) * Puggaard, Hans Christopher Vilhelm, in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (2nd edition, 1915) * Puggaard, Hans Christopher Wilhelm, in ''Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon'' (2nd edition, 1925) * Puggaard, Christopher, ''Description Géologique de la Peninsule de Sorrento'' (1858). * Puggaard, Christopher, ''Geologie Der Insel Möen.'' (German Edition) – reedition in paperback September 22, 2011. * Puggaard, Christopher, ''Möens Geologie'', C.A. Reitzel, København 1851, XXXII and 286 pages, with 12 plates of which 7 coloured by hand and 55 etchings.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Christopher Puggaard
at geni.com 1823 births 1864 deaths Danish geologists People from Copenhagen Puggaard family