Background
Friedrich August von Quenstedt was born on July 10, 1809, at Eisleben in Saxony.
geologist mineralogist paleontologist scientist
Friedrich August von Quenstedt was born on July 10, 1809, at Eisleben in Saxony.
Quenstedt received his early education at Eisleben and studied mineralogy and geology at the University of Berlin under Weiss and von Buch.
Quenstedt became an associate professor of mineralogy and geology at Tubingen in 1837 and was named full professor in 1842. He held this post until his death. Because of his superior teaching ability, Quenstedt attracted many students, and his dedication to paleontology aroused the interest in fossils of even the farmers in the areas surrounding Tubingen.
In his crystallographic writings, Quenstedt extended the application of spherical geometry to crystallography, a technique introduced by Weiss. Von Buch had provided the basis for the geology of the Swabian Jura, but Quenstedt made important additions. He subdivided each of the three principal divisions of the Jura into six zones on the basis of petrographical development and paleontological evidence.
He did not, however, compare the succession of Jurassic rocks found in Swabia with those in other countries. Quenstedt's Petrefaktenkunde Deutscltlands, published in seven parts over thirty-eight years, contained 218 plates and was one of the best reference works on vertebrate fossils of the period.
Quenstedt's major achievement was in becoming one of the most distinguished paleontologists acknowledged for his researches on the fossils of the Jurassic system. By differentiating ammonite fossils, Quenstedt determined the stratigraphic sequence of rocks formed during the Jurassic Period in the Swabian region of southern Germany. He considered species to be indistinctly defined, a view that conflicted with the doctrine of catastrophism held by many of his contemporaries. He published his highly regarded Petrefaktenkunde Deutschlands (“Paleontology of Germany”) in seven parts (1846–84).
The mineral quenstedtite was named in his honor by G. Linck in 1888.
For years before the publication of the Darwinian theory, Quenstedt taught that species were not sharply defined - that not only could variations be found in the same stratigraphic horizon, but also that the same species could be seen in several horizons. This approach was thus opposed to catastrophism, and his thinking was distinctly phylogenetic. His methods and views often brought him into sharp conflict with many of his contemporaries.
Quenstedt was a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
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