HAIDINGER

haidinger, wilhelm karl, ritter von (1795-1871), austrian mineralogist, geologist and physicist, was born at vienna on the 5th of february 1795. his father, karl haidinger, contributed largely to the development of mineralogical science in the latter half of the 18th century. having studied at the normal school of st anne, and attended classes at the university, wilhelm, at the age of seventeen, joined professor f. mohs at gratz, and five years later accompanied the professor to freiberg on the transfer of his labours to the mining academy of that town. in 1822 haidinger visited france and england with count breunner, and, journeying northward, took up his abode in edinburgh. he translated into english, with additions of his own, mohs's _grundriss der mineralogie_, published at edinburgh in three volumes under the title _treatise on mineralogy_ (1825). after a tour in northern europe, including the scandinavian mining districts, he undertook the scientific direction of the porcelain works at elbogen, belonging to his brothers. in 1840 he was appointed counsellor of mines (bergrat) at vienna in the place of professor mohs, a post which included the charge of the imperial cabinet of minerals. he devoted himself to the rearrangement and enrichment of the collections, and the museum became the first in europe. shortly after (1843) haidinger commenced a series of lectures on mineralogy, which was given to the world under the title _handbuch der bestimmenden mineralogie_ (vienna, 1845; tables, 1846). on the establishment of the imperial geological institute, he was chosen director (1849); and this important position he occupied for seventeen years. he was elected a member of the imperial board of agriculture and mines, and a member of the imperial academy of sciences of vienna. he organized the society of the freunde der naturwissenschaften. as a physicist haidinger ranked high, and he was one of the most active promoters of scientific progress in austria. he was the discoverer of the interesting optical appearances which have been called after him "haidinger's brushes." knighted in 1865, the following year he retired to his estate at dornbach near vienna, where he died on the 19th of march 1871. in addition to the works already named, haidinger published _anfangsgrunde der mineralogie_ (leipzig, 1829); _geognostische ubersichtskarte der osterreich. monarchie_ (vienna, 1847); _bemerkungen uber die anordnung der kleinsten theilchen in christallen_ (vienna, 1853); _interferenzlinien am glimmer_ (vienna, 1855); _vergleichungen von augit und amphibol_ (vienna, 1855). he also edited the _naturwissenschaftliche abhandlungen_ (vienna, 1847); the _berichte uber die mittheilungen von freunden der naturwissenschaften in wien_ (vienna, 1847-1851); and the _jahrbuch_ of the vienna k. k. geologische reichsanstalt (1850), &c. some of his papers will be found in the _transactions_ of the royal society of edinburgh (vol. x.) and of the wernerian society (1822-1823), _edinburgh phil. journal, brewster's journal of science_, and _poggendorff's annalen_. (h. b. wo.) haiduk (also written _hayduk, heiduc, heyduke_ and _heyduque_), a term which appears originally to have meant "robber" or "brigand," a sense it retains in servia and some other parts of the balkan peninsula. it is probably derived from the turkish _haidud_, "marauder," but its origin is not absolutely certain. most of the european races with which the turks came into close contact during the 15th and 16th centuries seem to have adopted it as a loan-word, and it appears in magyar as _hajdu_ (plural _hajduk_), in serbo-croatian, rumanian, polish and [)c]ech as _hajduk_, in bulgarian as _hajdutin_ and in greek as [greek: chaintoutes]. by the beginning of the 17th century its use had spread north and west as far as sweden and great britain. in hungary it was applied to a class of mercenary foot-soldiers of magyar stock. in 1605 these haiduks were rewarded for their fidelity to the protestant party (see hungary: _history_) with titles of nobility and territorial rights over a district situated on the left bank of the river theiss, known thenceforward as the haiduk region. this was enlarged in 1876 and converted into the county of hajdu (ger. _hajduken_). _hajdu_ is also a common prefix in hungarian place-names, e.g. hajdu-szoboszlo, hajdu-namas. in austria-hungary, germany, poland, sweden and some other countries, _haiduk_ came to mean an attendant in a court of law, or a male servant, dressed in hungarian semi-military costume. it is also occasionally used as a synonym for "footman" or "lackey."