astronomy

Oswald Heer

Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer rather than just read about it. In short: Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 August 1809 – 27 September 1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist, was born at Niederuzwil in Canton of St. Gallen and died in Lausanne.

Key takeaways

Oswald Heer belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
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Reproduce the core statement of Oswald Heer from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 August 1809 – 27 September 1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist, was born at Niederuzwil in Canton of St. Gallen and died in Lausanne.

Biography Oswald Heer was educated as a clergyman at Halle and took holy orders, and he also graduated as Doctor of Philosophy and medicine. Early in life his interest was aroused in entomology, on which subject he acquired special knowledge, and later he took up the study of plants and became one of the pioneers in paleobotany, distinguished for his researches on the Miocene flora. In 1837, Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1800–1874) a Swiss botanist named a genus of flowering plants (in the family of Anacardiaceae) from South Africa after him, Heeria. In 1851, Heer became professor of botany in the university of Zürich, and for some time he was the director of what is now the Old Botanical Garden in that city. He directed his attention to the Tertiary plants and insects of Switzerland. In 1863 (with William Pengelly, Phil. Trans., 1862) he investigated the plant-remains from the lignite-deposits of Bovey Tracey in Devon, regarding them as of Miocene age; but they are now classed as Eocene. Heer also reported on the Miocene flora of Arctic regions (fossil plant remains brought back from Northwest Greenland by K. J. V. Steenstrup), on the plants of the Pleistocene lignites of Dürnten, and on the cereals of some of the lake-dwellings (Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten, 1866). In 1862, Heer was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society. Charles Darwin regarded Heer as an authority on fossil plants, and corresponded with him. The two men disagreed over evolution, but were on cordial terms. In a letter in 1875, Heer described to Darwin in some detail a new dicotyledonous angiosperm fossil that he had identified in the lower Cretaceous in the arctic, which appeared to allow slightly more time for the evolution of dicots than Darwin had previously been aware of. Heer published a critique of Darwinism in volume 2 of his 1867 book The Primaeval World of Switzerland, concluding "All these facts afford arguments against a slow and uniformly progressive transformation of species, and lead to the conclusion that the transformation of organic nature took place in a period of comparatively limited duration" (p. 288). He believed in progressive creation: "Times of creation occurred during which was accomplished a remoulding of organic types, and there was a primaeval epoch during which the first species were brought into being. Even if the first species were extremely simple, for them an act of creation must be admitted, an act without example in modern times; for in our days plants and animals of decidedly low forms proceed from species already in existence" (p. 291, The Primaeval World of Switzerland). During a great part of his career Heer was hampered by slender means and ill-health, but his services to science were acknowledged in 1874 when the Geological Society of London awarded to him the Wollaston medal. He died at Lausanne on 27 September 1883. Heer published Flora Tertiaria Helvetiae (3 vols., 1855–1859); Die Urwelt der Schweiz (1865), and Flora fossilis Arctica (1868–1883) and with Eduard Heinrich Graeffe. The cape Heerodden in Nordenskiöld Land on Spitsbergen is named after him, as well as the Bear Island mountain Oswaldfjellet.

Works

Heer published the following works:

1840 - Analytische Tabellen zu Bestimmung der phanerogamischen Pflanzengattungen der Schweiz. 1840 - Flora der Schweiz; (with Johannes Jacob Hegetschweiler). 1846 - Der Kanton GlarusFormularende 1849 - "Die Insektenfauna der Tertiärgebilde von Oeningen und von Radoboj in Croatien" in series Neue Denkschriften der Allgemeinen Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für die gesammten Naturwissenschaft 1855-1859 - Flora tertiaria Helvetiae 1862 - Beiträge zur Insektenfauna Oeningens 1862 - Beiträge zur Fossilen Flora von Sumatra 1862 - Beiträge zur Insektenfauna Oeningens: Coleoptera, Geodephagen. .. Lamellicornen und Buprestiden 1863 - On the lignite formation of Bovey Tracey, Devonshire; (with William Pengelly). 1865 - Die Urwelt der Schweiz 1865 - Die Pflanzen der Pfahlbauten 1867 - Fossile Hymenopteren aus Oeningen und Radoboy 1868-1882 - „Flora fossilis arctica - Die fossile Flora der Polarländer“ "1868 in Graeffe Reise im Innern der Insel Viti Levu. Neujahrsblatt der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zurich 70: 1-48 (1868). (ngzh.ch) 1869 - Miocene baltische Flora 1869 - Ueber die Braunkohlenpflanzen von Bornstädt 1870 - Die Miocene Flora und Fauna Spitzbergens 1871 - Fossile Flora der Bären Insel 1872 - Le monde primitif de la Suisse 1874 - Die Kreide-Flora der Arctischen Zone 1874 - Anmärkningar öfver de af svenska polarexpeditionen 1872-73 upptäckte fossila växter. 1876 - Beiträge zur fossilen Flora Spitzbergens: Gegründet auf die Sammlungen der schwedischen Expedition vom Jahre 1872 auf 1873. 1876 - The Primaeval World of Switzerland (Edited by James Heywood) Volume 1 and Volume 2. 1877 - Flora fossilis Helvetiae: die vorweltliche Flora der Schweiz 1878 - Beiträge zur fossilen Flora Sibiriens und des Amurlandes 1884 - Analytische Tabellen zur Bestimmung der phanerogamischen Pflanzengattungen der Schweiz

Notes

References Attribution This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Heer, Oswald". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 199.

External links Works by or about Oswald Heer at Wikisource

"Heer, Oswald" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Oswald Heer

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer

In research: Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer 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: Oswald Heer is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1809 births, 1883 deaths, 19th-century Swiss geologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Oswald Heer 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.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Oswald Heer in simple terms?

Oswald Heer (or Oswald von Heer) (31 August 1809 – 27 September 1883), Swiss geologist and naturalist, was born at Niederuzwil in Canton of St. Gallen and died in Lausanne.

Why does Oswald Heer 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 Oswald Heer?

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 Oswald Heer.