Agricola, Georgius

Georgius Agricola, (Latin), German Georg Bauer, (born March 24, 1494, Glauchau, Saxony [Germany]—died November 21, 1555, Chemnitz), German scholar and scientist known as “the father of mineralogy.” While a highly educated classicist and humanist, well regarded by scholars of his own and later times, he was yet singularly independent of the theories of ancient authorities. He was indeed among the first to found a natural science upon observation, as opposed to speculation. His De re metallica dealt chiefly with the arts of mining and smelting, and his De natura fossilium, considered the first mineralogy textbook, presented the first scientific classification of minerals (based on their physical properties) and described many new minerals and their occurrence and mutual relationships.