Hochstetter, Christian Gottlieb Ferdinand Ritter von (Ferdinand) (1829 - 1884)

Summary

Ferdinand von Hochstetter was a geologist who between 1857 and 1859 served as geologist on the Novara Expedition, the only Austrian scientific expedition to circumnavigate the world. The expedition made stops in Australia and New Zealand. Hochstetter, with permission and at the request of the New Zealand Government, left the expedition in New Zealand in January 1859, spending nine months making a pioneering geological survey which provided the basis for subsequent studies. During his short visits to Sydney (November 1858 and October 1859) and Melbourne (October-November 1859) Hochstetter visited local mining fields and became acquainted with leading scientific figures in both colonies. In 1860 he was appointed Professor of Mineralogy and Geology at, later becoming Superintendent of the Imperial Museum in Vienna. A number of endemic New Zealand species were named in his honour, including Hochstetter's Frog. He is also commemorated in Hochstetter Peak in Antarctica and Mt Hochstetter in New Zealand.

Details

Chronology

1852 - 1856

Career position - Geologist, Imperial Geological Survey of Austria

1857 - 1859

Career position - Geologist, Novara Expedition

1859

Career position - Employed by New Zealand Government to make a rapid geological survey of New Zealand

1860 - 1874

Career position - Professor of Mineralogy and Geology, Imperial Royal Polytechnic Institute, Vienna, Austria

1867 - 1882

Career position - President, Geological Society of Vienna, Austria

1872

Career position - Tutor to Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria

1875 - 1876

Career position - Rector, Imperial Royal Polytechnic Institute, Vienna, Austria

1876 - 1884

Career position - President, Geological Society of Vienna, Austria

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Johnston, Mike and Nolden, Sascha, Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand, 1858-60 (Nelson, NZ: Nikau Press, 2011), 336 pp. Details
• Johnston, Mike and Nolden, Sascha, Hochstetter's First Nelson Diary ([Wellington]: Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 2012), 122 pp. Details
• Johnston, Mike, Nolden, Sascha and Hoke, Leonore, Hochstetter's Nelson Diary 6 September - 2 October 1859 (Lower Hutt (N.Z.): Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 2012), 68 pp. Details
• Moon, Paul, The Voyagers: Remarkable European Explorations of New Zealand (Auckland (N.Z.): Penguin Books, 2014), 251 pp. Details
• Nolden, Sascha and Hayward, Bruce W., Hochstetter's Auckland Diary: 22 December 1858 - 5 March 1859 (Wellington, N.Z.: Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 2023). Details
• Nolden, Sascha and Nolden, Sandy, Hochstetter Collection Basel, vol. 3 (Milford, Auckland: Mente Corde Manu Publishing, 2011). Details

Edited Books

• Braund, James ed., Ferdinand Hochstetter and the Contribution of German-Speaking Scientists to New Zealand Natural History in the Nineteenth Century (Frankfurt: Peter Lang Verlag, 2012), 314 pp. Details

Journal Articles

• Beu, Alan G.; Nolden, Sascha; and Darragh, Thomas A., 'A Revision of New Zealand Cenozoic Fossil Mollusca Described by Zittel (1865) Based on Hochstetter's Collections from the Novara Expedition', Memoirs of the Association of Australasian Palaeontologists, 43 (2012), 1-71. Details
• Bunn, Rex; and Nolden, Sascha, 'Forensic cartography with Hochstetter's 1859 Pink and White Terraces survey: Te Otukapuarangi and Te Tarata', Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 48 (1) (2018), 39-56. Details
• Darragh, Thomas, 'Ferdinand Hochstetter's Notes from a Visit to Australia and a Tour of the Victorian Goldfields in 1859', Historical Records of Australian Science, 13 (2) (2001), 383-437. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR0011340383. Details
• Grapes. R.; and Nolden, S., 'Descriptions and analyses of New Zealand nephrite and tangiwaite jade (pounamu) by Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1864) and Friedrich Berwerth (1880): a scholarly annotated English translation', Jahrbuch der geologischen Bundesanstalt Wien, 161 (2021), 91-124. Details
• Grenfell, Hugh R., 'Hochstetter's missing rocks - the Kirk to Haast letter, 1869', Records of the Auckland Museum, 57 (2023), 31-40. https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/getmedia/7d2fc55c-aa0a-4705-8f53-b61c11a371de/ram_2023_web_full. Details
• Nolden, Sascha, 'Ferdinand Hochstetter's Novara expedition autograph album', Journal of the Historical Studies Group, Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 73 (2023), 49-95. Details
• Nolden, Sascha; and Darragh, Thomas, 'Ferdinand Hochstetter's Australian 'Novara' expedition diary and voyage to New Zealand, 6 November ‒ 22 December 1858', Journal of the Historical Studies Group, Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 73 (2023), 7-48. Details
• Organ, Michael, ''Österreich in Australien': Ferdinand von Hochstetter and the Austrian Novara Scientific Expedition 1858-9', Historical Records of Australian Science, 12 (1) (1998), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1071/HR9981210001. Details
• Skinner, D. N. B., 'Heaphy and Hochstetter: the first record of basalt in the Coromandel Volcanic Zone', Journal of the Historical Studies Group, Geological Society of New Zealand, 44 (2013), 32-8. Details

Resources

• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/24902837. Details
• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q64294. Details
• 'Hochstetter, Ferdinand von (1829-1884)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1245094. Details

Reviews

• Braund, James, ed., Ferdinand Hochstetter and the Contribution of German-speaking Scientists to New Zealand Natural History in the Nineteenth Century (2012)
  Darragh, Thomas A., Historical Records of Australian Science, 24 (2), (2013), 346-8, https://doi.org/10.1071/HR13005. Details
• Johnston, Mike and Nolden, Sascha, Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand, 1858-60 (2011)
  Nathan, Simon, Geoscience Society of New Zealand Newsletter, 5 (Nov.), (2011), 6-8. Details
• Johnston, Mike and Nolden, Sascha, Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand, 1858-60 (2011)
  Nathan, Simon, INHIGEO Newsletter, 44, (2012), 65-6. Details
• Johnston, Mike and Nolden, Sascha, Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand, 1858-60 (2011)
  Oldroyd, David, Episodes (International Union of Geological Sciences), 34, (2011), 282-4. Details
• Johnston, Mike and Nolden, Sascha, Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand, 1858-60 (2011)
  Smale, David, Geoscience Society of New Zealand Newsletter, 5 (Nov.), (2011), 8-10. Details