Petrography of American Coals Page: III

                                
Biographical Sketch of Dr. Reinhardt Thiessen
Dr. Reinhardt Thiessen, pioneer American coal scientist, associated with
the Bureau of Mines after its organization in 1910 until his death, was born in
New Holstein, Wis., May 1, 1867. Early education in the schools of his native
State culminated in 1895 with a Bachelor of Science degree from Lawrence
College. After leaving college, he taught science and mathematics for a short
time in the high schools and colleges of Wisconsin and South Dakota. His
interest in science, not entirely satisfied by teaching duties, was extended in
spare time by exploration of Wisconsin peat bogs, which Thiessen discovered
were veritable storehouses of botanical remains. Although hlie may not have
realized it at the time, his work with peat, the source material of coal, was
sound basic training for his later lifework.
To pursue scientific training at the graduate level, Thiessen entered the
University of Chicago, where his major studies in botany were inspired by the
renowned botanist, Prof. J. M. Coulter. Thiessen completed his training at
the University of Chicago in 1907, receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Through his education and experience he now was thoroughly trained in botany,
chemistry, geology, and mathematics; in addition to these scholastic assets, he
possessed great energy and zeal for investigative work.
Near the end of his university career the Geological Survey in Washington
needed the services of a man with just such training as Dr. Thiessen had.
The renowned paleobotanist of the Geological Survey, Dr. David White, was
looking for an assistant whom he hoped could contribute, by means of laboratory
research, fundamental information concerning the nature of coal. Dr. Thiessen
was offered the position and came to the Technological Branch of the Survey
in 1907 to begin his long-continued studies of coal. In the same year, quite
coincidentally, Dr. E. C. Jeffrey of Harvard University began a famous career
in coal microscopy that professionally closely paralleled Thiessen's. Although
they worked independently, Jeffrey in academic surroundings and Thiessen in
an organization of applied research, the influence of each in promoting funda-
mental studies of coal in America for more than two decades was so pronounced
that it persists to this day.
As planned by White and Thiessen, the microscopical work began with
lignitic coals and was to continue systematically through progressively higher
rank coals. Thus, the broad scope of the work as conceived by these two scien-
tists was to follow the transformation of the plant substances in peat through
the various stages in the coalification series from lignite to anthracite. In the
study of lignites Thiessen applied techniques commonly used in botanical
laboratories, such as preparing thin, translucent slices of specimens for making
painstaking observations under the microscope.
In 1910 the Bureau of Mines was organized around the activities of the
Technological Branch of the Geological Survey, and Thiessen was soon trans-
ferred to the Pittsburgh Station. Here, until his death in 1938, he remained
in the capacity of research chemist engaged in microscopical and chemical
investigations of coal. Most of this time he was inspired and guided in his
efforts by Dr. Arno C. Fieldner, who in various official positions in the Bureau
was largely responsible for comprehensive programs of investigation covering
such fields of activity as analysis, testing, preparation, and utilization of coal.
The study of lignite by Thiessen was carried to completion as originally
planned, and the results were published in 1913 as Bureau of Mines Bulletin 38,
The Origin of Coal, by David White and Reinhardt Thiessen. This report in
its entirety was a monumental contribution to coal science; in the section en-
titled "The Microscopical Study of Coal" Thiessen revealed all that he had
learned from microscopical observation about the physical composition of
III