Count Alois von Beckh Widmanstätten
Encyclopedia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n printer and scientist. His name is sometimes given as Alois von Beckh-Widmannstätten or Aloys Beck, Edler von Widmannstätten.
Working life
During his youth he was trained in the printing art by his father. His family owned exclusive printing rights in the Steiermark province, but this was lost in 1784 and Alois sold the business in 1807. In 1804 he ran a spinning mill in PottendorfPottendorf
Pottendorf is a town in the district of Baden in Lower Austria in Austria....
, Austria.
Starting in 1807 he was placed in charge of the Fabriksproduktenkabinett, a private collection of technology owned by the Emperor. In 1808 he was the director of the Imperial Porcelain works in Vienna.
Widmanstätten patterns discovery
In 1808 he independently discovered some amazing patterns, now called Widmanstätten patternWidmanstätten pattern
Widmanstätten patterns, also called Thomson structures, are unique figures of long nickel-iron crystals, found in the octahedrite iron meteorites and some pallasites. They consist of a fine interleaving of kamacite and taenite bands or ribbons called lamellæ...
s in iron meteorite
Iron meteorite
Iron meteorites are meteorites that consist overwhelmingly of nickel-iron alloys. The metal taken from these meteorites is known as meteoric iron and was one of the earliest sources of usable iron available to humans.-Occurrence:...
s, by flame heating a slab of Hraschina meteorite. The different iron alloys of meteorites oxidized at different rates during heating, causing color and luster
Lustre (mineralogy)
Lustre is a description of the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. The word lustre traces its origins back to the Latin word lux, meaning "light", and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance....
differences.
He did not publish his discovery, but claimed it only through oral communication. Nevertheless, he received full credit for it, and Carl von Schreibers, director of the Vienna Mineral and Zoology Cabinet, named the structure after Widmanstätten.
It is a little-known fact that the actually discoverer of Widmanstätten pattern
Widmanstätten pattern
Widmanstätten patterns, also called Thomson structures, are unique figures of long nickel-iron crystals, found in the octahedrite iron meteorites and some pallasites. They consist of a fine interleaving of kamacite and taenite bands or ribbons called lamellæ...
was G. Thomson
G. Thomson
G. Thomson was an English geologist. He died in Palermo at the early age of 46 years.-Name:His name is indicated only with G. because the full name is unknown. In several secondary sources he is called William Thomson or William Thompson, and sometimes is even confused with Lord Kelvin...
.
In fact, during the period he spent in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, he discovered these figures bathing a Krasnojarsk
Krasnojarsk (meteorite)
-History:A mass of about 700 kg was detected in 1749 about 145 miles south of Krasnoyarsk. It was seen by P.S. Pallas in 1772 and then on his orders transported to Saint Petersburg....
meteorite
Meteorite
A meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
in nitric acid
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
with the purpose of removing rust
Rust
Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides. In colloquial usage, the term is applied to red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture...
. 1804 he published the discovery in French on the Bibliothèque Britannique, so the full credit of the discovery should be assigned to G. Thomson
G. Thomson
G. Thomson was an English geologist. He died in Palermo at the early age of 46 years.-Name:His name is indicated only with G. because the full name is unknown. In several secondary sources he is called William Thomson or William Thompson, and sometimes is even confused with Lord Kelvin...
due to chronological priority.
Named after him
- Widmanstätten patternWidmanstätten patternWidmanstätten patterns, also called Thomson structures, are unique figures of long nickel-iron crystals, found in the octahedrite iron meteorites and some pallasites. They consist of a fine interleaving of kamacite and taenite bands or ribbons called lamellæ...
s of iron meteorites - The crater WidmannstättenWidmannstätten (crater)Widmannstätten is a lunar crater in the southern part of the Mare Smythii, near the eastern limb of the Moon. The rim of this crater has a wide gap along the western side, where it is joined to the larger Kiess. There is also a gap in the northern rim where the crater floor is joined to the...
on the Moon - 21564 Widmanstätten21564 Widmanstätten21564 Widmanstätten is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1986.8059528 days . The asteroid was discovered on August 26, 1998....
asteroid