GEORGIUS AGRICOLA'S: DE RE METALLICA

465 Years Old and Still Relevant

- STEVE VOYNICK

The bibliographies of the modern literature of minerals, mining, assaying, and smelting often cite a pivotal work titled De Re Metallica. This fact may seem surprising for a work that is 465 years old, but De Re Metallica is no ordinary book. An encyclopedic dissertation on mining and metallurgy, this book is one of the landmark achievements of the early Renaissance period. Based on personal observation and written in meticulous detail, it documents both period craftsmanship and the rudiments of science and is the first true example of modern technological literature.

De Re Metallica (On the Nature of Metals) is the work of Georgius Agricola, a well-educated humanist scholar, physician, author, and de facto mineralogist and metallurgist. His achievements include describing 20 new mineral species, preparing the first systematic mineralogical classification system, recognizing bismuth and antimony as primary metals (elements), and, most importantly, writing a work of great historical significance that is still relevant today. Through its text and the original illustrations, De Re Metallica offers a fascinating look at mining and metallurgy in the first half of the 16th-century.