Aristides Brezina (4 May 1848 – 25 May 1909) was an Austrian mineralogist born in Vienna.
Aristides Brezina | |
---|---|
Born | 4 May 1848 |
Died | 25 May 1909 | (aged 61)
Citizenship | Austrian |
Education | University of Tübingen (1872) |
Occupation | Mineralogist |
Known for | Co-architect of the "Rose-Tschermak-Brezina classification" system for meteorites |
In 1872 he graduated from the University of Tübingen, and afterwards taught crystallography at the University of Vienna. In 1878 he succeeded Austrian mineralogist Gustav Tschermak (1836-1927) as custodian of the meteorite collection at Vienna, and from 1889 until 1896 he was director of the Mineralogisch-Petrographische Abteilung (Department of Mineralogy-Petrography). In 1886, he was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society.[1]
Brezina is known for his study of meteorites, and with German mineralogist Gustav Rose (1798-1873) and Tschermak, he was co-architect of the "Rose-Tschermak-Brezina classification" system for meteorites.[2] It was largely based on criteria such as texture and color, and was widely used from the mid-1880s to around 1920 when a simpler method of classification was proposed by George Thurland Prior.[3]
Brezinaite, a mineral found in meteorites, is named after him.