Fritz Daniel Frech (26 March 1861 – 28 September 1917) was a German

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 ...

. Frech was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He studied natural sciences at the universities of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

and

, receiving his doctorate in 1882 with a thesis on the coral fauna of the

Late Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era during the Phanerozoic eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian period at million years ago ( Ma), to the beginning of the succeeding ...

period in Germany. In 1887 he obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

from the

University of Halle Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public research university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. MLU offers German and i ...

, and in 1897 was appointed a full professor of geology and paleontology at the

University of Breslau A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. In 1912 he was named vice-president of the newly formed Paläontologischen Gesellschaft. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he died in

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

while serving as a senior geologist under the command of the German army.Friedrich (Fritz) Frech
Catalogus Professorum Halensis He published extensively on fossil invertebrates, being especially interested in extinct fauna from a stratigraphic-geological perspective. From 1913 he was an editor of the "''Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie and Paläontologie''".Nature, Volume 100
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Selected works

* ''Lethae geognostica: Handbuch der Erdgeschichte mit Abbildungen der für die Formationen bezeichnendsten Versteinerungen'', (3 volumes, 1876–. with

Ferdinand von Roemer Carl Ferdinand von Roemer (5 January 1818 – 14 December 1891), German geologist, had originally been educated for the legal profession at Göttingen, but became interested in geology, and abandoning law in 1840, studied science at the Univer ...

) – Lethae geognostica; handbook of geological history with pictures of the most significant of the fossil formations (Frech wrote most of the section dealing with

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

formations and all of the volume describing the

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 ...

). * ''Geologie der Umgegend von Haiger bei Dillenburg (Nassau) Nebst einem palaeontologischen anhang'', 1888 – Geology of the environs of

Haiger Haiger is a country town in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. The nearest city is Siegen, about 25 km north of Haiger. Geography Location Haiger lies about 5 km west of Dillenburg, and 20 km southeast of Siegen on the eastern ...

near

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German- Dutch holiday roa ...

( Nassau) along with palaeontological notes. * ''Die Karnischen Alpen ein beitrag zur vergleichenden gebirgs-tektonik'', 1892 – The

Carnic Alps The Carnic Alps (; ; ; ) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria and northeastern Italy. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Italian Friuli (Province of Udine) and marginally in Veneto. Etymology They are ...

, a contribution to comparative mountain-

tectonics Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

. * ''Die Steinkohlenformation'', 1899 – Coal formation. * ''Aus der vorzeit der erde'', 1910 – On the prehistoric earth. * ''Ammoneae devonicae (clymeniidae, aphyllitidae, gephyroceratidae, cheiloceratidae)'', 1913 – Devonian

ammonites Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

( Clymeniidae, Aphyllitidae, Gephyroceratidae,

Cheiloceratidae Cheiloceratidae is a family of ammonoid cephalopods included in the goniatitid suborder Tornoceratina in which the suture has 4 to 12 lobes, the ventral one undivided and those in the lateral areas originating as subdivisions of internal and ex ...

). Part of the series "Fossilium catalogus". * ''Allgemeine geologie'', 1914 – General geology.Most widely held works by Fritz Frech
WorldCat Identities

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frech, Fritz 1861 births 1917 deaths Scientists from Berlin 19th-century German geologists German paleontologists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Bonn alumni Leipzig University alumni Academic staff of the University of Breslau German Army personnel of World War I