• He was born in Wittenberg on January 20th, 1538.
• At that time his father, Erasmus Reinhold senior, was professor of sciences at the university there and in his parents'home he experienced humanism and got into contact with outstanding scholars of that era, especially with Philipp Melanchton, who, after his father's death, patronized the talents of the boy und supported his education.
• In 1555 Erasmus Reinhold junior started studying mathematics, but in 1556 he changed to the studies of medicine, which he continued in Jena in 1558, after already being bestowed with the academic degree of a doctor.
• After finishing his studies he was employed as a district medical officer in the Upper Palatinate till 1564, then moved to Saalfeld where he worked as a district medical officer, too.
• Besides his profession he was engaged in astronomy as his father had been. He published the so-called "Practices"or "Almanacs", calendars for which he used the latest discoveries in the fields of astronomy and astrology.
• Tycho Brahe, at that time the most famous Danish astronomer,became attentive to him, when Erasmus described a new star, a so-called supernova, in his 1574 calendar. He visited him in Saalfeld.
• After finishing his work as a physician in the middle of the 1570iesthe local mining became another field of his scientific investigations.
• With his treatises about surveying and underground surveying which appeared in Erfurt in 1574 he acquired the reputation of an outstanding specialist in the field of mining, so that he was appointed mining supervisor for the mining industry and metallurgical engineering in Saalfeld.
• In 1575 he decisively participated in drafting the Saalfeldian Mines Act, put new life into gold mining near Reichmannsdorf and in 1585 he invented a new smelting technique for silver mining.
• Because of his poor health he was dispensed from his function of a mining supervisor in 1578. He died in Rudolstadt on November 30th, 1592.

Heidi Fleischer

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 (c) 1998 - 2000  ERG Saalfeld, letztes Update: 04.03.1998