The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Richthofen, Ferdinand, Baron von

RICHTHOFEN, rĭH'hōf-ĕn, Ferdinand, Baron von, German geologist: b. Karlsruhe, 5 May 1833; d. Berlin, 7 Oct. 1905. He was educated at the universities of Breslau and Berlin; and went to Austria in 1856 to study the geology of Tyrol, Siebenbürgen and northern Hungary. In 1860 he joined a Prussian expedition to the East and spent 12 years in China, Japan, Siam, Java, the Philippine Islands, Formosa, California and Nevada. Returning to Europe in 1872, he accepted professorships at Bonn, Leipzig and Berlin, successively. He published ‘China, Ergebnisse eigner Reisen und darauf gegründeter Studien’ (1877-83), and the following have appeared in English: ‘The Comstock Lode’ (1865); ‘Principles of the Natural System of Volcanic Rocks’ (1867); ‘Letters to the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce’ (1869-72).