Heinrich Edmund Naumann

Heinrich Edmund Naumann (September 11, 1854 – February 1, 1927) was a German geologist, regarded as the “father of Japanese geology” for his role as professor at Tokyo Imperial University from 1875-1885 in Meiji period Japan.

Biography

Naumann was hired by the Meiji government in 1875 to introduce the concepts of geology to Japan. He conducted numerous geological surveys, traveling over 10,000 kilometers within Japan, and became noted for his discovery of the Fossa Magna, a great fault zone which vertically divides the main Japanese island of Honshū from the Izu peninsula in the southwest to Toyama in the northeast. Per Naumann's suggestions, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce established a Geology Department in 1878, which began the process of systematically mapping the Japanese archipelago.

Naumann is also well known in Japan for his discovery of the fossilized bones of an extinct species of elephant ("Palaeoloxodon naumanni") in modern-day Tokyo, as well as Lake Nojiri in Nagano Prefecture.

Major works

* "Vom Goldenen Horn zu den Quellen des Euphrat" (1893)
* "Geologische Arbeiten in Japan" (1901)

External links

* [http://www.jsps-sto.com/site.aspx?id=623 Royal Museum of Natural History, Stockholm]
* [http://www.city.itoigawa.niigata.jp/fmm/outline-menu/03outline-naumann/03naumann.html Itoigawa city website]