Johann Gottlob Lehmann (4 August 171922 January 1767) was a German

mineralogist 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 ...

and

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, ...

noted for his work and research contributions to the

geologic record The geologic record in stratigraphy, paleontology and other natural sciences refers to the entirety of the layers of rock strata. That is, deposits laid down by volcanism or by deposition of sediment derived from weathering detritus (clays, sa ...

leading to the development of

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

Life and career

Lehmann was born in Langenhennersdorf,

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

and attended the

University of Wittenberg 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 ...

, from which he received an M.D. in 1741, and then established a practice 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 ...

. Living in

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

, he developed an interest in the local

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

industry, and published on the chemical composition of ore deposits. In 1750, the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences commissioned him to study mining practices throughout

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, ...

. In 1761, the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences invited him to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, where he became professor of chemistry and director of the imperial museum there. At the Beryozovskoye deposit in the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

he discovered a lead ore with a reddish-orange mineral (), which he named "Rotbleierz" (red lead ore); today in English its name is crocoite. Lehmann, Georg Christian Füchsel, and Giovanni Arduino were founders of stratigraphy. Lehmann died in Saint Petersburg from injuries caused by the explosion of a

retort In a chemistry laboratory, a retort is a device used for distillation or dry distillation of substances. It consists of a sphere, spherical vessel with a long downward-pointing neck. The liquid to be distilled is placed in the vessel and heat ...

filled with

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol As and atomic number 33. It is a metalloid and one of the pnictogens, and therefore shares many properties with its group 15 neighbors phosphorus and antimony. Arsenic is not ...

Selected works

Johann Gottlob Lehmann geological section Thuringia

*
Abhandlung von den Metall-Müttern und der Erzeugung der Metalle aus der Naturlehre und Bergwerckswissenschaft hergeleitet und mit chymischen Versuchen erwiesen
' Berlin 1753 *
Versuch einer Geschichte von Flötz-Gebürgen betreffend deren Entstehung, Lage, darinne befindliche Metallen, Mineralien und Foßilien größtentheils aus eigenen Wahrnehmungen und aus denen Grundsätzen der Natur-Lehre hergeleitet, und mit nöthigen Kupfern versehen
' Berlin 1756
Digitalisat
* '
Gedancken von denen Ursachen derer Erdbeben und deren Fortpflanzung unter der Erden
' Berlin 1757 * ''Kurzer Entwurf einer Mineralogie...'' Berlin 1758 * '
Cadmiologia oder Geschichte des Farben-Kobolds nach seinen Nahmen, Arten, Lagerstaedten darbey brechenden Metallen, Mineralien, Erzten und Steinen
' Berlin 1760

References

Attribution: *

External links

''Versuch einer Geschichte von Flötz-Gebürgen''
(1756) - digital facsimile from

Linda Hall Library The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, on the grounds of a urban arboretum. It claims to be the "largest independently funded public library of sc ...

Neue Theorie von der Entstehung der gänge
(1791) - digital facsimile from

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lehmann, Johann Gottlieb 1719 births 1767 deaths People from Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge People from the Electorate of Saxony 18th-century German geologists German mineralogists Deaths from laboratory accidents