POŠEPNÝ, František
* 30. 3. 1836, Jilemnice, Czech Republic
† 27. 3. 1895, Vienna, Austria
geologist
Between 1852 and 1857 P. finished Polytechnic Institute in Prague and immediately after, in 1859 completed Mining and metallurgical academy in Pribram and gain a thorough technical, mining and metallurgical education. At the direction of the National Directorate of Mines in Baia Mare he explored the ore deposits in the Transylvanian Alps. From 1863 to 1865 he went on a geological survey of Hungary as a member of the Imperial Geological Institute in Vienna. The next five years he served in the Directorate of Mines in Kolozsváru and was in 1870 appointed principal hungarian geologists based in Banská Štiavnica. In this position, P. carried out a number of mineral exploration in the area of what are today Slovakia and Romania.
In 1875 he was called to Vienna as a mining geologists by the Ministry of Agriculture and mining, which ordered him to write an expert opinion on mineral exploration in Upper Austria, Tyrol and Styria, as well as on the coal mine in Idrija. In 1876 the Ministry sent P. to the world exhibition in Philadelphia. While he lived in the USA he explored the central mining areas in Nevada and California. P.’s idea of creating a geology study at the Mining Academy in Leobenu and Příbramu was adopted in 1879. In the same year he began teching this new subject in Příbramu, initially as a lecturer and since 1882 as a professor. He was forced to resign from this position in 1889 due to health reasons.
Next years P. used for comparative study of mineral exploration in Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sardinia, England, Norway, Sweden, Greece and other countries.
P. is known as a founder of scientific discipline of geology mineral exploration. (geologija rudišč).
