astronomy

Karl August Lossen

Karl August Lossen is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Karl August Lossen rather than just read about it. In short: Karl August Lossen (born Kreuznach (Rhineland), 5 January 1841; died Berlin, 24 February 1893) was a German petrologist and geologist. After finishing his studies at the gymnasium of Kreuznach in 1859 Lossen became a mining engineer; he began by two and a half years of practical work, then studied at the Universities of Berlin and Halle, where he graduated in 1866; in the same year he became assistant geologist of t…

Key takeaways

Karl August Lossen belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Karl August Lossen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Karl August Lossen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Karl August Lossen (born Kreuznach (Rhineland), 5 January 1841; died Berlin, 24 February 1893) was a German petrologist and geologist. After finishing his studies at the gymnasium of Kreuznach in 1859 Lossen became a mining engineer; he began by two and a half years of practical work, then studied at the Universities of Berlin and Halle, where he graduated in 1866; in the same year he became assistant geologist of the Prussian national geological survey. He began immediately his well-known petrolographic studies of the Harz Mountains, which lasted till his death. In 1870 he became instructor in petrology at the Berlin mining academy, and at the same time lecturer at the university. In 1873, he was made a member of the newly founded Prussian National Geological Institute, and in 1882 received the title of professor; he was a fellow of the Görres Society from its foundation. In 1886, he became an associate professor in the university. He published the results of his investigation in over one hundred treatises and notices which appeared for the most part in the Zeitschrift der deutschen geologischen Gesellschaft of 1867–1891. The work of his youth, De Tauni montis parte transrhenana (Halle, 1867), appeared independently; then in 1877 followed the maps of the geological survey of the Harz Mountains and later many special maps of the Harz district, and the exhaustive work, Boden der Stadt Berlin (The Terrain of Berlin). He also wrote papers on the contact and "dynamometamorphosis" of minerals. He was considered as an authority on this subject, such that the committee in charge of the programme for the International Geological Congress in London requested him to present a paper on the origin of crystallized slate (printed in 1888). He was made a member of Belgian, French, and English learned societies. A mineral called lossenite is named after him; it is a hydrated lead-iron sulpharsenate from the mines of Laurion in Attica.

Sources Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Karl August Lossen". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Cites: KAYSER in Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie und Palaeontologie, II (Stuttgart, 1893); VON HERTLING in Jahresbericht der Görresgesellschaft für 1895 (Cologne, 1896); KNELLER, Das Christentum und die Vertreter der neuern Naturwissenschaft (Freiberg, 1904).

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Karl August Lossen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Karl August Lossen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Karl August Lossen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Karl August Lossen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Karl August Lossen

In research: Karl August Lossen appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Karl August Lossen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Karl August Lossen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1841 births, 1893 deaths, Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Karl August Lossen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Karl August Lossen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Karl August Lossen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Karl August Lossen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Karl August Lossen in simple terms?

Why does Karl August Lossen matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Karl August Lossen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Karl August Lossen.