Schapper, Christian August

Geologist

born: 10.11.1785 in Bad Ems

died: 22.01.1862 in Wiesbaden

The son of court chamber councillor Georg August Schapper and his wife Katharina Elisabeth (née Stöckicht), after completing his studies he worked as a Nassau mining official from 1807. During the Wars of Liberation in 1814, he served as a captain in the Landwehr regiment. He left Nassau and became the archducal Austrian mining commissioner in Ahl. Here he became Assessor in the General Domain Directorate in 1816 and Bergrat in 1818.

After his return to Wiesbaden, he advanced to become a member of the Nassau state government in 1828 and was appointed Oberbergrat in 1833. From 1849, he was Technical Advisor to the Ministerial Department for Road Construction, Chairman of the Mining College and Chairman of the Building College. Schapper made a particular contribution to the construction of the ship tunnel in Weilburg an der Lahn, which was built from 1844-47.