| Štúr, Dionýz
Outstanding Slovak geologist of the 19th century, director of the Imperial Geological Institute in Vienna. After completing secondary school in Modra and evangelical high school in Bratislava he devoted his effort to study natural science at the Polytechnic College in Vienna. In 1847 - 1849, he studied at the Mining and Forestry Academy in Banská Štiavnica. After the foundation of the Imperial Geological Institute in Vienna he joined this institution and worked there till his death. In 1872, he became its chief geologist, in 1877 its deputy director and, finally in 1885, its director. At the beginning, he mapped in various parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (in Lower Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Bohemia, and Moravia). In 1858, he started geological mapping of the western Slovakia, the Carpathians, Low Tatras, and Spišsko-gemerské rudohoří Mountains. After 1870, he spent much of his time on fytopaleontological studies and became prominent expert in botany. He studied flora of the Triassic and Jurassic systems in Slovakia and also flora of Culm shales and Carboniferous basins. While investigating the Central Bohemian Devonian he examined the flora of the Srbsko Member. Towards the end of his life he returned to geological mapping, this time of the Vienna environs. His scientific work comprises over 270 papers and numerous geological maps. He published his paleobotanical studies under the title 'Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Flora der Vorwelt'. In 1871, he published an extensive monograph dealing with geology of Styria. To commemorate his achievements the Slovak Geological Institute in Bratislava was named 'Štátný geologický ústav Dionýzia Štúra' (State Geological Institute of Dionýz Štúr).
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born 5th April 1827, Beckov u Nového Města nad Váhom, died 9th October 1893, Vienna