Ernst Erhard Friedrich Wilhelm Schmid (22 May 1815 in

Hildburghausen Hildburghausen () is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the Hildburghausen district. Geography It is situated in the Franconian part of Thuringia south of the Thuringian Forest, in the valley of the Werra River. The town centre ...

– 16 February 1885 in

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

) was a German

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 ...

. He was the son of law professor Karl Ernst Schmid (1774–1852). He studied natural sciences at the universities of

and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, receiving his doctorate in 1839. In 1843 he became an associate professor at Jena, where with

Matthias Jakob Schleiden Matthias Jakob Schleiden (; 5 April 1804 – 23 June 1881) was a German botanist and co-founder of cell theory, along with Theodor Schwann and Rudolf Virchow. He published some poems and non-scientific work under the pseudonym Ernst. Career Ma ...

, he founded a physiological institute. At the institute he dealt with subjects that included

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

. In 1856 he was appointed a professor of natural sciences at the University of Jena.Schmid, Ernst Erhard
at

Neue Deutsche Biographie (''NDB''; Literal translation, literally ''New German Biography'') is a Biography, biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 27 volumes published thus far co ...

In 1848 the ichthyopterygian species '' Tholodus schmidi'' was named in his honor by

Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer (3 September 1801 – 2 April 1869), known as Hermann von Meyer, was a German palaeontologist. He was awarded the 1858 Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London. Life He was born in Frankfurt am ...

Published works

With Matthias Jacob Schleiden, he was co-author of an encyclopedia of theoretical science titled
"''Encyclopädie der gesammten theoretischen Naturwissenschaften''"
(1850). Other significant works by Schmid are: * ''Die geognostischen verhältnisse des Saalthales bei Jena'' (with Matthias Jacob Schleiden), 1846 – Geognostic conditions of the

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

valley near Jena. * ''Physik, anorganische chemie und mineralogie'', 1850 – Physics,

inorganic chemistry Inorganic chemistry deals with chemical synthesis, synthesis and behavior of inorganic compound, inorganic and organometallic chemistry, organometallic compounds. This field covers chemical compounds that are not carbon-based, which are the subj ...

and mineralogy. * ''Topographisch geognostische Karte der Umgebungen von Jena der Universität zu ihrer dritten Säcularfeier gewidmet'', 1859 – Topographical geognostic map of the surroundings of Jena. * ''Lehrbuch der meteorologie'', 1860 – Textbook of

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

. * ''Die Fischzähne der Trias bei Jena'', 1861 – On

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

fish teeth found near Jena. * ''Über den unteren Keuper des östlichen Thüringens'', 1874 – On the Lower Keuper of eastern

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. * ''Die quarzfreien Porphyre des centralen Thüringer Waldgebirges und ihre Begleiter'', 1880 – The

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

-free

porphyry Porphyry (; , ''Porphyrios'' "purple-clad") may refer to: Geology * Porphyry (geology), an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix, often purple, and prestigious Roman sculpture material * Shoksha porphyry, quartzite of purple c ...

of the mountains in the central

Thuringian Forest The Thuringian Forest (''Thüringer Wald'' in German language, German ) is a mountain range in the southern parts of the Germany, German state of Thuringia, running northwest to southeast. Skirting from its southerly source in foothills to a gorg ...

.Die quarzfreien porphyre des centralen Thüringer waldgebirges
HathiTrust Digital Library

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmid, Ernst Erhard 1815 births 1885 deaths People from Hildburghausen University of Jena alumni Academic staff of the University of Jena German paleontologists German mineralogists