← Back to Articles | Original (German)
The key biographical details of Wilhelm von Haidinger are quickly mentioned: born on February 5, 1795 in Vienna, died on March 19, 1871 in Vienna-Dornbach, where he was also buried. In between lay the fulfilling and productive years of a person who had chosen Friedrich Schiller's saying, "Never stand still when tired," as his life motto. Some people may also be familiar with Haidingergasse in Vienna-Landstrasse, which is named after him.
But since in Vienna the importance of people is measured by their grave, let's first take a look at the Vienna Central Cemetery in Vienna-Simmering. Haidinger has an honorary grave there on the cemetery wall (Group 0). However, it has only been here since 1892, the year it was transferred here. A grave of honor alone identifies him as an important person. Now to the inscriptions: "k.k. Hofrath", a not insignificant official title, even in Vienna in the 21st century. His job: “Director of the Imperial and Royal Geological Institute”. Furthermore, his affiliations, of which only the most important one, "Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna", is mentioned, identify him as a great scholar. But the last sentence, "founder of scientific life in his fatherland", requires further explanation and shows Haidinger's true merits.
Haidinger was born with earth sciences. His father, Carl Haidinger, was a mountain councilor in the k. k. Court Chamber for Coins and Mining in Vienna. Haidinger junior first studied with mineralogist Friedrich Mohs at the Joanneum in Graz (1812–1817), then went to Freiberg in Saxony before traveling through Europe. He later headed his brothers' porcelain factory in Elbogen an der Eger until 1840, when he followed in the footsteps of Friedrich Mohs, who had died in 1839. Haidinger now became head of the Montanist Museum with an address at Heumarkt 1 (today: Austrian Mint) near the city park. Training miners was on the agenda. There were lectures on various topics (mineralogy, paleontology, chemistry). His main research interests were mineralogy and meteorites. But as a versatile natural scientist, he also dealt with other topics, such as the spray rainbow or the ice cover of the Danube.
In 1845 he published the "Geognostic Overview Map [sic!] of the Austrian Monarchy" in nine sheets (scale 1:864,000). Although the map was drawn based only on the documents available in archives and libraries at the time, it was innovative. It would be more than 20 years before the next map of the monarchy was published, which was based on recent field studies.
On October 31, 1846, he formally applied to the "High Ministry of the Interior" for the establishment of a "Society of Friends of Natural Sciences", approval was received in July 1847. The main achievement of the society, in addition to regular meetings to exchange opinions, was the publication of "Haidinger's Reports", a series of publications (7 volumes from 1847-1851). The long title “Reports on communications from friends of natural sciences in Vienna” shows the range of content. There were publications on “Deformity of Corn” and “Photography, Daguerreotype, Galvanoplasty” as well as on “Petrifications of Dienten in Salzburg”. Further achievements of the Friends of Natural Sciences were publications in the “Wiener Zeitung”, in which the results of the meetings of natural scientists were reported in a timely manner. Haidinger also launched a large-format publication, the "Abhandlungen", which once again proved himself to be a communicator. No wonder that he looked back with satisfaction in 1869: "This was an independent scientific life in a social club, we had achieved everything, periodic meetings for lectures on new and valuable scientific communications, meeting reports, compiled from the individual ones in the Wiener Zeitung, and finally the "Natural Scientific Treatises" as memoranda."
When the Imperial Academy of Sciences was founded in 1847, Haidinger was among the 40 real members from the very beginning. In addition to him, numerous names from the Friends of Natural Sciences in Vienna can also be found here. When it comes to publication strategy, the Friends of Natural Sciences were pioneers. Publications in the "Wiener Zeitung", the meeting reports, as well as the large-format memoranda of the Academy are modeled on the publications of the Friends of Natural Sciences.
One of Haidinger's great interests was travel and expeditions. On June 13, 1850, at the meeting of the Mathematical and Natural Sciences Class of the Academy of Sciences, he submitted a proposal to send "scientific expeditions to distant, foreign, in many respects unknown countries." The application was promptly accepted and “Messrs. Haidinger, Partsch, Hyrtl, Kollar, Fenzl, Fitzinger, Heckel, Boué and Diesing were appointed members of the commission.”
November 19, 1849 is the founding date of the k. k. Geological Reichsanstalt. Haidinger initiated the founding of the Kaiser's state geological service and was its first director until the end of 1866. These years were probably the most important in his life, as can be seen on his gravestone. During this time he organized the geological mapping of the monarchy and built a network of collaborators. He made the k. k. Geological Institute in the Rasumofsky Palace was the first address for all geological questions of the monarchy at the time. At the intersection between academic research and applied questions is one of his most important guiding principles, which he wrote immediately after its founding in the "Program", a mission statement one would say today, on January 12, 1850: "The Geological Reichsanstalt itself primarily pursues a practical purpose: to facilitate practice through the application of science, to promote science with the power of practice." The tasks could not be clearer: Science serves society and follows its needs, with no trace of an end in itself! At the same time, science is open to any input from outside in order to develop further.
But that's not enough. On December 1, 1855, Haidinger invited "numerous friends of geographical research", including members of the Academy of Sciences, to the Rasumofsky Palace in Vienna-Landstrasse, the noble address of the k. k. Geological Reichsanstalt. The occasion was the founding of the Geographical Society. Haidinger said: "I am happy to begin the history of geographical society in Vienna today." One of his main tasks was to focus on the findings and results of research trips in the company based “in the capital of the great empire”. Finally he sums up: "Geographical society is the traveler's homeland."
This is laid down in the statutes, which are very general: "The purpose of the society is to promote the interests of geographical science in its various directions." The fact that Haidinger was the first president of the k. k. Geographical Society was obvious.
What did the tireless and restless Haidinger do in the twilight of his life? In his retirement he wrote memoirs; not vain memoirs in the true sense, but a chronology of the natural sciences in Vienna in the middle of the 19th century: "The Imperial-Royal Montanistic Museum and the Friends of Natural Sciences in Vienna in the years 1840 to 1850: Memories of the preparatory work for the founding of the Imperial-Royal Geological Reichs-Anstalt".
A chance discovery in the archives of the Federal Geological Institute provides a personal facet of his life. A year before his death, he wrote "Memories of Swimming Lessons" on May 22, 1870. To do this, he hired the painter Ferdinand Maass, who vividly depicted sketches of the corresponding swimming movements. Haidinger says: "... I cannot resist the temptation to present a few words here about methods of swimming instruction, as they have presented themselves to me during my now quite long life."
If Moritz Alois Becker, in his obituary for Haidinger, describes his language as "likely to digress into the irrelevant", he can be forgiven for that. (Thomas Hofmann, April 22, 2021)