Institut Für Mineralogie
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Institute of Mineralogy TU Bergakademie Freiberg Dr. Erler, alumnus, reading the annual report 2011 at our institute party in February 2012 Annual Report 2012 Institute of Mineralogy – Annual Report 2012 2 Impressions from our region. Top: Steel furnace in Feralpi-plant in Riesa – Elbe valley in der Saxon Switzerland – Biogenic erosion in Cretaceous sandstones in the Saxon Switzerland. Bottom: unusual sights from the centre of historical Freiberg, left: Upper market and Petri church right: Freudenstein Castle and the Institute of Mineralogy (Werner-Building). Impressum. The individual working groups are responsible for all content. Contact: Director of the Institute of Mineralogy, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Heide. Institute of Mineralogy, Brennhausgasse 14, D-09599 Freiberg; Tel: 03731 – 39 2628, Fax: 03731 – 39 3129; email: [email protected] Sources: Diverse press releases by the press office of TU Bergakademie Freiberg (Thank You!) and for the historical data: Wagenbreth O, Pohl N, Kaden H, Volkmer R (2008) Die Technische Universität Berga- kademie Freiberg und ihre Geschichte. 2. ed. 345 p. Photos, if not indicated otherwise, by JMT, and so are the non-WG-specific texts. Institute of Mineralogy – Annual Report 2012 3 Institute of Mineralogy – 2012 Exactly 100 years ago, construction started for the Werner Building, the main premise of our institute. Four years later, 1916, in the midst of World War I, the work was finished. Ever since, it offers a home for constantly changing requirements of modern mineralogy, geo- chemistry and resource research. We very much hope that not only a 100-year old building will be around us in 2016, but that necessary reconstructions and renovations will be successfully done by then. On the right the bust of Abraham Gottlob Werner in Freiberg’s Albert Park Back in 1916, no simple functional building was erected, but a thoroughly planned and solidly built steel concrete construction – one of the first in Europe. Its simple and almost timeless elegance still attracts attention – even if the facade still looks shabby. Yet, quite a bit has been done: following some initial frustrating beginnings of a new roof construction, the truly engaged craftsmen team (photo left) around Mike Schneider, with construction leader Gert Möckel and the architect Claudius Gabriel, successfully finished all demanding tasks before the first major snow load came down in late October. The roof is ready and nicely protects us for decades to come from storms, snow, ice masses and penetrating rains; challenges that we had to increasingly face in the past years. We are indebted to all people involved – Thank you. As in all years, we attempt at the end of the year to deliver a review of the more recent activities and achievements. And we hope that you, dear reader, may enjoy and ap- preciate our report and that you stay with us. Institute, University and City Current issues in and around Freiberg. The 850-year anniversary of our city was the high- light of 2012. Latest historical sources modified Freiberg’s “birth year”. The amazing and positive development of Freiberg and our university, particularly in the past twenty years, is largely related to smart decisions by the Saxon government and the Saxon Ministry of Science and Culture (SMWK) at the time of political unification. The then Minister president, Prof. Dr. Kurt Biedenkopf (left) and his spouse Ingrid were our guests on October 10. Kurt Biedenkopf spoke to a full lecture hall in the Winkler-Building (Chemistry) on “The new look on the state-of-affairs” („Die neue Sicht der Dinge“). He emphasised the relevance of “posing the right questions”, key of all scientific thinking. Biedenkopf smartly combined this with the big questions on our future and global challenges, setting the focus on sustainability and resource questions – not quite coincidentally the key topic of our institute and our university. Institute of Mineralogy – Annual Report 2012 4 A view into history – based on decadal anniversaries. 850 years ago (1162) the settle- ment Christiansdorf, predecessor of Freiberg, was founded in the then dense forests; on land let by Margrave Otto to the emerging monastery Altzella (near Nossen). 380 years past (1632) Freiberg was under siege (once again) and taken – then by the Emperors troops – and had to pay high contributions. Another siege, ten years later, remained futile. In 1692, a Nuremberg tradesman, Thomas Weber, opened a manufacture for gilded and silver ware in Freiberg. In 1702 already, the Freiberg Upper Mining Authority donated stipends that allowed gifted young men to receive a higher education and become Mining engineers; a predeces- sor of the Mining Academy. As of 1712, Gottfried Silbermann worked as organ builder in Freiberg – four of his instruments are still active. The first textbook for the Mining Academy was published in 1772: “Report on Mining” („Bericht vom Bergbau“), edited by Friedrich Wilhelm von Oppel (picture below). In 1782, Abraham Gottlob Werner delivered the first lecture on Geognosy (Geology) in Germany. Ten years later, Jens Esmark from Aarhus in Denmark (later professor of Mineralogy in Oslo), José Bonifacio d’Andrade da Silva from Santos in Brazil (later professor of Geognosy in Coimbra, Portugal, and 1822 Minister for Internal Affairs in Brazil), as well as Manoel Ferreira da Câmara (later Geoscientist in Brazil), were students of the then Mining Academy. In the same year, Alexander von Humboldt suc- cessfully finished his studies at the Mining Academy and became Bergassessor in Bavaria. Exactly 70 years later (1862) his fundamental masterpiece “Cosmos” was published. Dr. phil. Carl Friedrich Naumann worked until 1842 as professor for Crystallography in Freiberg. Freiberg received the first railway connection to Dresden 150 years ago (1862). To that year, the Freiberg Geology professor Bernhard von Cotta ed- ited the series “Gangue studies or understanding of ore mineralizations” („Gangstudien oder Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Erzgänge“.The metric systems was being introduced in Germany ten years later. After another ten years (1882) the water distribution system of the Freiberg Mining district, launched in 1550, was finalized (and works until today). Freiberg has its share in mishaps and chaos, too: in 1922 already, the Munich-borne student Otto Kolbow started a local group of the fascist party NSDAP. In 1932 this party gains the majority in the city coun- cil. 20 years later (1952), the II. Party Conference of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) declares the stepwise “construction of socialism” („Aufbau des Sozialismus“). Shortly thereafter, the State of Saxony was being abolished and re-organized into the counties Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig. As of 1952, the Diplom-Mineralogist was introduced for the first time as an inde- pendent course. One of the better known students was Dieter Hallbauer (later professor for Geochemistry at the University of Stellenbosch, South-Africa). In the same year, Dr. Oscar W. Oelsner (OWO) was promoted to Professor for Ore Resources, later Economic Geology. In 1992, the Mining Academy was being restructured as a Technical University and the con- stitution of the Free State of Saxony was ratified. Until this year, our colleagues Dr. rer. nat. habil. Ludwig Baumann (professor for Resource Geology and Minerogeny, †), Dr. rer. nat. habil. Hans-Joachim Blankenburg (lecturer for Technical Mineralogy) and Dr. rer. nat. habil. Bernd Voland (professor for Geochemistry) and Dr. rer. nat. habil. Manfred Wolf (professor for Economic Geology, †) shaped our institute. Newly appointed in 1992: Dr. Peter Beuge (professor for Geochemistry, †), Dr. Robert Heimann (professor for Technical Mineralogy), Dr. Peter Herzig (professor for Economic Geology), Dr. Otto Leeder (associate professor representing Economic Geology), Dr. Joachim Pilot (associate professor for Isotopic Geo- chemistry and Geochronology), Dr. Carl-Dietrich Werner (associate professor for Geochem- istry and Petrology, †) as well as Dr. Dieter Wolf (professor for Mineralogy). The Foundation “Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg” was inaugurated in 2002; a most important contribution towards “that certain something” of our university. In the same year, the Novalis- Forum was started in our house – with most active contributions from Prof. Dr. em. Joachim Pilot (www.novalisforum.de/). Institute of Mineralogy – Annual Report 2012 5 Institute and Working Groups Our institute grew even further in comparison with previous years. All three working groups are busy with interesting projects that allow supporting bright and engaged young people within their PhD and partly Post-Doc works – thus strengthening our team (not to forget BSc and MSc students). It is particularly nice that some joint research projects are underway and that existing infrastructure (which again grew a little bit and could be partly renewed) is in- creasingly being used jointly by our groups. We are also an active partner in the global WFURS-Network (World Forum of Universities of Resources on Sustainability). Founded in June 2012 with overwhelming participation and engagement in Freiberg (73 universities from 44 countries), all partners attempt to deliver a substantial contribution in both teaching and research towards a more sustainable resource economy. The first meeting of the Executive Committee on October 10 in Berlin (hosted by the Federal Ministry for Science and Technology, BMBF) reflected this understanding and was highly productive (Photo below). On the left the