Georgius Agricola (Georg Bauer), while town physician of Joachimsthal (now Jachymov, Czech Republic), becomes intensely interested in all aspects of the mining and metallurgy industry by which the town thrives, and begins an extensive study of the subject.

The author of a number of works on medicine, geology, mineralogy, politics, and economics, Agricola publishes De natura fossilium (“On the Nature of Fossils”), a treatise on the origin of mountains, minerals, and underground water, in 1546.