AGRICOLA, GEORGIUS

( (Latin), ) born March 24, 1494, Clauchau, Saxony died Nov. 21, 1555, Chemnitz German Georg Bauer German scholar and scientist known as the father of mineralogy. While a highly educated classicist and humanist, well regarded by scholars of his own and later times, he was yet singularly independent of the theories of ancient authorities. He was indeed among the first to found a natural science upon observation, as opposed to speculation. His De re metallica dealt chiefly with the arts of mining and smelting; his De natura fossilium, considered the first mineralogy textbook, presented the first scientific classification of minerals (based on their physical properties) and described many new minerals, their occurrence and mutual relationships. Additional reading No detailed life of Agricola has been published in English. A German biography is H. Hartmann, Georg Agricola, 14941555 (1953). The most important source is the work published by the East German Academy of sciences on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his death, Georgius Agricola, 14941555, zu Seinem 400. Todestag 21. Nov. (1955), which contains a number of essays on Agricola's life and work, including his diplomatic activity. F.D. Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (1938), is informative on Agricola's contribution to geology. Of his books, only De re metallica and De natura fossilium have as yet been translated into English.