I systematically investigate earth sciences through direct observation and experimentation, rejecting ancient authorities in favor of empirical evidence. I classify minerals by physical properties and document comprehensive mining and metallurgical practices across industrial operations.
Georg Agricola, a German humanist and classicist, was best known for his contributions to earth sciences. This friend of Desiderius Erasmus* advanced contemporary knowledge of mining, metallurgy, and geology, in part by re claiming some lost knowledge of classical authors, but more importantly by relying upon observation and experimentation and rejecting the erroneous the ories of ancient authorities, thereby earning…