BERGHAUS

berghaus, heinrich (1797-1884), german geographer, was born at kleve on the 3rd of may 1797. he was trained as a surveyor, and after volunteering for active service under general tauenzien in 1813, joined the staff of the prussian trigonometrical survey in 1816. he carried on a geographical school at potsdam in company with heinrich lange, august petermann, and others, and long held the professorship of applied mathematics at the bauakademie. but he is most famous in connexion with his cartographical work. his greatest achievement was the _physikalischer atlas_ (gotha, 1838-1848), in which work, as in others, his nephew hermann berghaus (1828-1890) was associated with him. he had also a share in the re-issue of the great _stieler handatlas_ (originally produced by adolf stieler in 1817-1823). and in the production of other atlases. his written works were numerous and important, including _allgemeine lander- und volkerkunde_ (stuttgart, 1837-1840), _grundriss der geographie in funf buckern_ (berlin, 1842), _die volker des erdballs_ (leipzig, 1845-1847), _was man van der erde weiss_ (berlin, 1856-1860), and various large works on germany. in 1863 he published _briefwechsel mit alexander van humboldt_ (leipzig). he died at stettin on the 17th of february 1884.