Background

Franz Pošepný was born on March 30, 1836, in Starkenbach, Bohemia (now Jilemnice, Czech Republic).

Education

Posepny studied natural science at Prague and, in 1857-1859, mining geology at the School of Mines in Pribram, Bohemia. The lectures on ore deposits given by its director, Grimm, appear to have influenced Posepny, especially toward his theory that ore deposits are characteristically confined to decomposed rocks.

Career

From 1859 to 1879 Posepny held various positions that enabled him to become thoroughly acquainted with the mines on which he published monographs; some of them are, partly through his writings, still famous examples of type deposits.

From 1873 to 1879 Posepny was a geologist at the Royal Imperial Ministry of Agriculture in Vienna. In 1876 he visited the United States, where he established close contacts with the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, especially with Rossiter W. Raymond, who was vital in the translation and publication of Posepny’s major work, “The Genesis of Ore-Deposits.”

From 1879 to 1888 Posepny taught mining geology at the School of Mines in Pribram. In 1882 he became associate professor and in 1887 full professor of special mining geology and analytical chemistry. In 1888 he retired in order to devote himself fully to the study of ore genesis. He visited ore deposits in Transylvania, Germany, Switzerland, the Ural Mountains, France, England, Sweden, Norway, Italy (including Sardinia), Greece, and Palestine.

Posepny’s relationship with the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy led to publication of his major work in the United States in 1895, together with numerous comments and criticisms by American authorities, whereas the textbook by Groddeck was little known in the English-speaking world.

Achievements

• Posepny’s scientific achievement and influence can be attributed to two main properties of his work: his extensive and systematic observations, which led to the introduction of mining geology into the curricula of the schools of mines at Pribram and Leoben and into the investigations of ore deposits.
  
  The results of Posepny’s scientific work were published in more than 100 papers on ore deposits and other geological topics. Much of his work appeared in the Archiv fiir praktisclie Geologic (Vienna), which he founded in 1880. The summary of his system of ore genesis is his “Liber die Genesis der Erzlagerstatten" (1895).
  
  Posepny’s relationship with the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgy led to the publication of his major work in the United States in 1895.
  
  The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic's "František Pošepný Honorary Medal for Merit in the Geological Sciences for contributions to the development of geological sciences" is named in his honor.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Ore-Deposits. a Sequel to the 2D Ed. of the Genesis of Ore-Deposits 1913
  • The Genesis of Ore-Deposits 1893

Views

Posepny’s scientific influence can be attributed to two main properties of his work: his extensive and systematic observations, which led to the introduction of mining geology into the curricula of the schools of mines at Pribram and Leoben and into the investigations of ore deposits, both old and new; and his genetic views, which remained controversial and which he shared largely with his friend and colleague Alfred Stelzner.

These views are today essentially termed panepigenetic and do not differ in essence from those held by Posepny's teacher, Grimm. Both insisted on using genetic (interpretative) classifications, whereas their contemporary opponent, Groddeck, was the first to offer a geometric, observational classification of ore deposits in 1879, far ahead of his time, this being the modern approach since about I860.

Connections

Friend:

Alfred Stelzner

associate:

Rossiter Worthington Raymond

Rossiter Worthington Raymond (April 27, 1840, in Cincinnati, Ohio – December 31, 1918, in Brooklyn, New York) was an American mining engineer, legal scholar, and author.

References

• Dictionary of Scientific Biography
  1975