Mohs, Friedrich

[person]

German geologist and mineralogist born in Gernrode (1773-1839). In 1802, after studying at the Mining Academy in Freiberg, Saxony, Mohs moved Austria, where he was hired to identify minerals in a private collection. In order to do this, he classified the minerals by their physical characteristics rather than their chemical compositions (as was usually done). He developed the Mohs' hardness scale, a relative scale of the hardness of minerals that remains a useful way to identify minerals in the field.