Peter Merian

Peter Merian
Bust of Peter Merian at the Museum for Natural History in Basel.
Born	(1795-12-20)20 December 1795 Basel, Switzerland
Died	8 February 1883(1883-02-08) (aged 87) Basel, Switzerland
Occupation	Swiss geologist

Peter Merian (20 December 1795– 8 February 1883) was a Swiss geologist and palaeontologist.

He studied sciences at the

In 1820 he was named professor of physics and chemistry at Basel, and during the following year, became director of the Natural History Museum.^[3] From 1835 to 1861, he was an honorary professor of geology and palaeontology at Basel, where three times he served as university rector. In 1838 and 1856 he was president of the Schweizer Naturforschenden Gesellschaft.^[1]

Known for his scientific investigations of

• Uebersicht der Beschaffenheit der Gebirgsbildungen in den Umgebungen von Basel : mit besonderer Hinsicht auf das Juragebirge im Allgemeinen, 1821 – Overview on the formation of mountains in the environs of Basel with particular regard to the Jura Mountains in general.
• Uebersicht des Zustandes unserer Kenntniss der Naturkunde des Kantons Basel, 1826 – Overview on the natural history of the canton of Basel.
• Geognostische Uebersicht des südlichen Schwarzwaldes, 1831 –
  Geognostic
  survey of the southern Black Forest.
• Mittel und Hauptresultate aus den meteorologischen Beobachtungen in Basel von 1826 bis 1836, 1838 – Means and main results of the meteorological observations in Basel from 1826 to 1836.
• Ueber die Theorie der Gletscher, 1843 – On the theory of glaciers.^[4]

References