Karl Mayer-Eymar

Early Life and Love for Rocks

Karl Mayer-Eymar was a scientist who loved studying very old rocks and the tiny creatures that lived long ago. He was born on 29 July 1826 in Marseilles, a sunny city by the sea. After his father passed away, he grew up in St Gallen, a quiet place where he started collecting fossils from the seaside when he was just a boy.

Studying and Teaching

Karl went to the University of Zurich to learn more about the Earth. Later, he worked at the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris with another scientist named Charles Henry Dessalines d'Orbigny. In 1858, he moved back to Zurich and taught at the Zurich Polytechnische Hochschule. There, he took care of many important rock and fossil collections.

Organizing Earth's Layers

Karl is best known for organizing the Earth's layers called the Tertiary into 12 clear stages. He wrote a book in 1857 explaining his ideas. Some of the names he gave, like the Bartonian and Aquitanian, are still used by scientists today. In 1888, he shared his work at a big science meeting in London. His fossil collections are kept at ETH-Zurich, and some sea creatures were named after him to honor his work.