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Agricola, Georgius

orig. Georg Bauer

(born March 24, 1494, Clauchau, Saxony—died Nov. 21, 1555, Chemnitz) German scholar and scientist known as the father of mineralogy. A town physician in Saxony (1527–33), he was among the first to found a natural science upon observation as opposed to speculation. His De re metallica (1556) dealt chiefly with mining and smelting; his De natura fossilium (1546), considered the first mineralogy textbook, presented the first scientific classification of minerals (based on their physical properties) and described many new minerals, their occurrence, and mutual relationships.

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