Biography
He was born in Munich, Bavaria and died there. Having studied mineralogy in Landshut, he became professor of mineralogy in 1826 at the University of Munich, and in 1856 was appointed first curator of the Bavarian state collection of minerals. His greatest contributions were new methods in crystallography. In 1855 he invented the stauroscope for the study of the optical properties of crystals. The mineral Kobellite is named for him.
Besides his work as mineralogist, Kobell is also famous for writing a lot of short stories and poems in the Bavarian dialect of Upper Bavaria. His best known work is the base for the popular Bavarian theater play Der Brandner Kasper, which tells the story of a blacksmith from Tegernsee, who is visited by the grim reaper and tricks him into drinking and gambling for some further years on earth. This play is televised each year before All Saint's day by the Bavarian Broadcasting Agency (Bayerischer Rundfunk). Kobell's work shows the true vis comica, and the possession of rich fancy with verisimilitude.
Read more about this topic: Wolfgang Franz Von Kobell
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