Institute of Mineralogy – Report 2008 2008 has been a very special year for us. Following more than four years of intense prepara- tions, terra mineralia opened its gates to the public in October with a week of festivities (see also report 2007). Ever since, the steady stream of visitors from near and afar has already lured more than 50,000 people to the exhibits, and Freiberg is more lively than ever. With the successful filling of the chair of Mineral Resources and Petrology with Dr. Jens Gutzmer (be- fore: University of Johannesburg, RSA), our house is finally complete again and all three groups back to full strength. Shortly before the end of the year, the working group Applied and General Mineralogy received a particular honour: Dr. Kristian Ufer was bestowed with the Hans-Joachim-Martini-Award for his works in the “Development of structural models for the Rietveld quantification of swellable illite/smectite minerals in rocks”. This is the solution of a riddle that has been seen as a non-solvable applied problem for many decades. The addi- tional impetus from these successes is already noticeable. The year was much richer, how- ever, and the following pages report about related events and achievements. We should not neglect the sad sides, though. This mainly includes the death of three reputable professors of our institute who have strongly contributed to shaping our house, its reputation and direc- tion. Institute, University and City Contemporary issues in and around Freiberg. Rector (Vice-chancellor) Georg Unland was nominated the new Finance Minister of our Free-state of Saxony. Prof. Dr. Bernd Meyer became his elected successor. The neutral Bernd-Erwin Schramm replaced Dr. Uta Rensch, SPD, Freiberg’s first female mayor, after eight years of service. The former county Freiberg grew to the new county of Central Saxony (Mittelsachsen), by merging with the previous counties of Mittweida and Döbeln. Impressions from the festivities at the inauguration of terra mineralia in Freudenstein castle City and University. After Freudenstein Castle attracts everyone with new charm and beauty, the decision has been made to completely restore the “Castle quarters”. Freiberg won the competition „Ab in die Mitte“, following the motto “Prima-Stadt-Klima” with its plans to Institute of Mineralogy – Report 2008 2 refurbish the Castle Square. Construction has started in parts in late 2008 already and may be completed by 2012. This helps to make city and university grow together even closer. At the same time, a “Science Axis” is being planned from Akademie Street via the Castle Quar- ter and the Castle itself, Brennhausgasse and Silbermann Street, to the University Campus, where a new home for the growing university library and additional lecture halls shall be built. A look into History. 840 years ago, rich silver findings were made in what is now Freiberg’s historical city (1168). The so-called “Berggeschrei” (like a gold-rush) led to the foundation of the city of Freiberg. Only 50 years later (in 1218) however, Freiberg was named in the re- cords. Exactly 500 years ago (1508), the famous “Tulip Pulpit” by Hans Witten in the Freiberg Cathedral was dedicated to the public. The “Mineralogical Geography of the chursaxon lands” was published by Johann Friedrich Wilhelm von Charpentier in 1778, the base for the later regional geological mapping. 190 years ago (1818), Carl Amandus Kühn started to build up a “geognostic” collection; now the invaluable mineral resource collection of our institute. Friedrich August Breithaupt, Ferdinand Reich, Bernhard von Cotta and his stu- dent Carl Hermann Müller became founding members of the German Geological Society (today Deutsche Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften) in 1848, the year of the first Democ- ratic uprise in Germany. Prof. Dr. Friedrich Leutwein, former rector of the Bergakademie and long-term director of the Institute of Mineralogy in GDR, emigrated to France in 1958. Mining ceased in Freiberg in 1968 with the closure of the last mine and the cavern hydropower sta- tion “Dreibrüderschacht”. The same year saw the introduction of the 3rd university reform of GDR. As a consequence, the institutes were disbanded and so-called sections formed. The former Institute of Mineralogy and Mineral Resources was transformed to the working areas Geochemistry and Mineralogy, Mineral Resources and Economic Geology of the section “Earth Sciences”. Source: Wagenbreth et al. (2008) terra mineralia and Collections. On January 17, we witnessed the festive transfer of the castle keys and access to terra mineralia from the mayor Dr. Uta Rensch to rector Prof. Dr. Georg Unland. Just a day later, our faculty bestowed an honorary doctoral degree to Dr. Erika Pohl-Ströher, the generous donor of the terra mineralia collection. The laudatio by the Dean was given by the Vice-Dean Prof. Dr. Jörg Matschullat, and emphasized the scientific value of the collections. terra mineralia opened on October 20, according to plan, and with major festivi- ties. The public response was and is overwhelming. The picture shows a detail from a mala- chite from the Katanga Province, PR Congo, in the Africa Hall of terra mineralia. Institute and Working Groups We opened a special exhibit on February 1, entitled “Bergkristall”, prepared and designed by our collections’ team (including the opening lectures). Because of its popularity, this exhibit has been extended to June 2009. 17.04. The traditional Mineralogists’ Guild evening featured Jörg Matschullat in the role of Friedrich Mohs (a former professor of mineralogy in Freiberg, 18th century). As we keep to some beautiful traditions, we also sang the Miners song (Steigerlied) at midnight. Despite all prophecies of doom because of the new consecutive studies, it was a marvellous party with very positive resonance from all generations. Our cooperation with Edmonton was continued with a visit of the Dean of Earth and Atmos- pheric Sciences, Prof. Martin Sharp, from February 5 to 7. As of May, we jointly submitted a proposal in the NSERC Programme “CREATE” and with DFG to establish an International Graduate School. Some of our students could participate at field courses in Alberta, a mag- nificent opportunity. Prof. David Lynch, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering visited on April 16, particularly interested in mining engineering and mineral resource issues. Institute of Mineralogy – Report 2008 3 We lost Prof. Dr. Carl-Dietrich Werner, a true mineralogist, on June 2 (see photo at right). He died after enduring a relatively short, but very severe illness. Next to many journal publications, Prof. Werner authored the chapters on “Rock Metamorphosis”, “Diagenesis” and “Metallogeny” in the former reference standard book “Entwicklungsgeschichte der Erde”, pub- lished by VEB F.A. Brockhaus in Leipzig. After German re-unification, he was a key person to establish contacts with the West German colleagues and rapidly participated, e.g., in IGCP programmes. We miss an honest colleague who kept active, engaged, and productive in the field long after his retirement. A “true” obituary will be published in 2009 in one of the next issues of the Geohistorische Blätter: http://www.geohistorische-blaetter.de/. 29.06. – 5.07. and 30.09. – 6.10. Following a visit from high-ranking representatives of the University of Namibia (UNAM) in Freiberg, a delegation, representing our geoscience insti- tutes, visited Namibia twice. The idea is to jointly build up a M.Sc. programme in the geo- sciences, supported by DAAD. We developed a concept to implement the program jointly with our geophysicists and geologists, hoping that this partnership may flourish. September. Decision made for construction activities in Brennhausgasse 5 and 14 (see out- look, below). On November 15, we lost our esteemed colleague and mentor, Professor Dr. Ludwig Baumann (picture left), following a long period of illness. Professor Baumann served from 1966 to 1993 as a chair for Mineral Resources and Metallogeny at our institute. He is first author of key literature (all in German) such as Baumann L, Tischendorf G (1976) Introduction to metallogeny and minerogeny; Baumann L, Nikolskij I, Wolf M (1979, 1982) Introduction to min- eral resource geology and exploration; Baumann, L, Kuschka, E, Seifert, T (2000) Mineral resources of the Erzgebirge. From 1974 to 1989, Professor Baumann served as the Chief Editor of the international series “Topical Reports of IAGOD – Problems of Paragenesis” that appeared under the umbrella of the Freiberger Forschungshefte. This publication was to be an important contribution against the international isolation of mineral resource geology in GDR. We will honour Professor Baumann and remember his engagement, partly under very difficult conditions, for mineral resource geology in GDR, in the re-united Germany, and on an international scale. Professor Dr. Ludwig Pfeiffer (picture right) died on December 21, after a very long struggle against a terminal disease. Prof. Pfeiffer was a petrologist and served for many years in our institute. Many know his textbook: Pfeiffer L, Kurze M, Mathe G (1981) Introduction to Petrology (2nd ed. 1985); Akademie Verlag Berlin (in German). The Meissen Massif and the Tertiary volcanism in Saxony and Bohemia were among the focal points of his activities. The fine relations between Freiberg and the Charles University in Prague are certainly and strongly related to his activities. Applied and General Mineralogy 8.—18.03. Gerhard Heide and Wolfgang Voigt (Department of Chemistry) visited the Uni- versity of Potosí, Bolivia, with which our institute maintains a long-standing collaboration ever since Abraham Gottlob Werner (18th century). The foundation of a Solar Research Institute and a lithium enrichment plant were prepared. April. Dr. Reinhard Kleeberg and Dr. Kristian Ufer received the prestigious Reynolds-Cup in quantitative mineral analysis (2. rank) and two of Dr. Kleeberg’s students were in the top five positions worldwide. See http://www.clays.org/reynoldscup/Past_Competition.html. 12.—18.05.