Christian Samuel Weiss

Who was Christian Samuel Weiss?

Christian Samuel Weiss was a German mineralogist born in Leipzig.

Following graduation, he worked as a physics instructor in Leipzig from 1803 until 1808. and in the meantime, conducted geological studies of mountain formations in Tyrol, Switzerland and France. In 1810 he became a professor of mineralogy at the University of Berlin, where in 1818/19 and 1832/33, he served as university rector. He died near Eger in Bohemia.

Weiss is credited for creating parameters of modern crystallography, and was instrumental in making it a branch of mathematical science. He stressed the significance of direction in crystals, considering crystallographic axes to be a possible basis for classification of crystals. He is credited for introducing the categorization schema of crystal systems, and has a basic law of crystallography named after him called the "Weiss zone law".