Suess  Eduard

(20.08.1831 - 26.04.1914)

Austrian geologist and social activist. He possesses hypotheses about the existence of the supercontinent of Gondwana (1861) and the Tethys Ocean (1893).
Born in London in the family of a wool merchant.

In 1834, the family moved to Prague. Edward entered the six-grade gymnasium in 1840, and already in 1845 his family moved again, this time to Vienna.

Edward was fond of geology in his youth. At 19, he published his first work on the geology of Carlsbad. At the request of his father, he entered the Vienna Polytechnic, which was considered one of the best in Europe.

Suess was elected to the student committee of Vienna, as he actively participated in the revolutionary movement of students, in 1848 he took an active part in the revolutionary battles, having been wounded in the leg.

In October of the same year, Süss moved to Prague, where he was able to get acquainted with many exhibits of the Bohemian Museum. A year later, he returned to Vienna again and continued his studies at the Polytechnic. His passion for geology was becoming stronger. He traveled around the outskirts of Vienna in search of various fossils and found that they are different from those he saw in the museum in Prague.

Since 1851, Suess worked in the Geological Committee and the court museum. A year later he was appointed an assistant at the museum, at the age of 29 he was already a corresponding member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, and at the age of 36 he became a full member of the Academy. In 1875, Süss published the scientific work The Origin of the Alps. In the same year, he proposed to introduce such a term as “biosphere” into science.

The main and main work of Suess was the work "Face of the Earth". It was she who had a great influence on the development of geology as a whole. In his work, Süss outlined the path for the development of geology over the next few years.

In 1895, Züss was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in 1903 he received the Copley Medal, in 1890 he was appointed Vice President of the Academy of Sciences of Vienna, in 1898 he became its President. He left this post at the age of 80 years. However, at this age, Suess found the strength to actively participate in the activities of the academy.

Throughout his life, Edward Suss not only wrote scientific work, he struggled with floods, arranged mining structures, struggled with the depletion of mineral springs and built water supply in Vienna.

He died in Vienna.

Lake on the east coast of Rogachev Bay on the southern island of Novaya Zemlya. Called in 1872 by the Austrian expedition G. Wilczek.