Zur Geschichte und Bedeutung von Bergbau und Bergbauwissenschaften

The present work gives the reader a fascinating overall view of mining in history, of contexts and events from the "golden age" of ancient Athens up to the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community as the start of the unification process in Europe. The topics dealt with in the book include: mining-history aspects of the supply of raw materials, mining traditions, the relationship between the history of mining and the history of earth sciences and the importance of mining for the development of modern Europe during the Renaissance. It analyses the impulse that Leibnitz gave to mining, reports on the Societät der Bergbaukunde ("Society of Mining Science") as the first internationally organised scientific association in the world, and follows the development of mining in Austria in the 19th and 20th centuries.