science

Lazarus Ercker

Lazarus Ercker is a science 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 Lazarus Ercker rather than just read about it. In short: Lazarus Ercker (c. 1530 – 1594) was a Bohemian metallurgist and assay master of a mint near Prague, Bohemia who wrote some of the earliest known treatises on metallurgy entitled Beschreibung allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt und Berckwercksarten (1574) and Münzbuch, wie es mit den Münzen gehalten sind (1563). Life Ercker was born at St.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Lazarus Ercker (c. 1530 – 1594) was a Bohemian metallurgist and assay master of a mint near Prague, Bohemia who wrote some of the earliest known treatises on metallurgy entitled Beschreibung allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt und Berckwercksarten (1574) and Münzbuch, wie es mit den Münzen gehalten sind (1563).

Life

Ercker was born at St. Annenberg (Annaberg, Saxony) around 1530 and studied at the University of Wittenberg between 1547 and 1548. Around 1554 he became an assayer at Dresden through the patronage of Elector Augustus with the influence of Johann Neese (a relative of his wife). In 1558 he became master of the mint at Goslar for Prince Henry of Brunswick. In 1567 his wife died and he tried to return to Dresden. His brother-in-law Caspar Richter helped him get a job as a tester at Kutna Hora near Prague. His 1574 book Beschreibung allerfürnemisten mineralischen Ertzt und Berckwercksarten described the production of alloys and refining of several metals including silver, gold, copper, antimony, bismuth, tin, lead and mercury. It was in Ercker's book that the word "wolfram" is first used for a mineral found in Saxony which Ercker thought contained tin and the metal only much later identified as the element tungsten. The book went through several editions and led to his appointment as courier for mining affairs under Emperor Maximilian II. Under Rudolf II he became master of the mint in Prague and was knighted (and known as Lazarus Ercker von Schreckenfels) on 10 March 1586. The eighth edition of his book published in 1672 was retitled Aula subterranea alias Probierbuch. Ercker's 1574 book was translated into English by Sir John Pettus as Fleta Minor in 1683 with the original woodcuts redrawn with some modifications. His book was also plagiarized by Georg Engelhardt von Löhneyss in his Bericht vom Bergwerck (1617).

References

External links Fleta Minor by Sir John Pettus Scanned editions of Ercker's publication

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lazarus Ercker

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lazarus Ercker claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, 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 Lazarus Ercker 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 Lazarus Ercker 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 Lazarus Ercker

In research: Lazarus Ercker appears in science 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 Lazarus Ercker 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: Lazarus Ercker is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1530s births, 1594 deaths, 16th-century people from Bohemia, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lazarus Ercker 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.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Lazarus Ercker in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lazarus Ercker 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 Lazarus Ercker out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lazarus Ercker in simple terms?

Why does Lazarus Ercker matter?

Because it connects several science 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 Lazarus Ercker?

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 Lazarus Ercker.