Carl Ferdinand Peters

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Carl Ferdinand Peters (13 August 1825 – 7 November 1881) was an Austrian physician and geologist who became a professor of mineralogy at the University of Graz. He described and named the minerals Szaibélyite and Biharit.

Life and work
Peters was born in Liebshausen near Libčeves in Bohemia. His father, Leopold Peters, managed the Lobkowitz estate, and his mother, Karoline, was the daughter of the physician Franz Ambros Reuss. He grew up in Neundorf-Eisenberg near Brüx and spent summers with his maternal grandparents in Bilin, developing a strong interest in the natural sciences. He travelled in the mountains with his father and studied geology with his grandfather and uncle August Emanuel Reuss. He attended gymnasium in Prague, showed talent in painting, and was influenced by scientists Ferdinand Hessler and Franz Exner.

He moved to the Polytechnic Institute and studied under Franz Xaver Zippe. He became part of the circle around Johann Czermak and met Josef and Johann Nepomuk Czermak. In 1843 he began studying medicine at the University of Prague, focusing on comparative anatomy, and attended lectures by notable scientists. In 1847 he was in Vienna, and in 1848 he took part in the revolution serving in the medical service. He earned his medical doctorate in 1849 and worked briefly with the dermatologist Ferdinand Hebra at the Vienna General Hospital. Poor health forced him to leave medical practice. He then taught natural history at a Graz school, and in 1852 wrote a study on the stratigraphy of a cretaceous formation in the eastern Alps, which led to a position in the Imperial Geological Institute in Vienna. This allowed him to explore regions such as Upper Austria, Carinthia, Upper Carniola, and Salzburg. In 1855 he was appointed professor of mineralogy at Pest, but left in 1861 due to political changes and moved to the University of Vienna. In 1864 he studied the Danube Delta for the government. A paralysis of one foot and the death of his wife Anna Maria Elisabeth von Blumfeld in 1864 ended much of his travel; afterward he focused mainly on paleontology, describing fossils from the region.

Peters also contributed to public health, working for Graz’s sanitation and drainage. In 1870 he was elected to the provincial parliament and helped push for the construction of a new mental asylum at Feldhof, working with Josef Czermak. He was an influential teacher and wrote a guide to improve teacher training.

Family
After his first wife’s death, he married her younger sister Leopoldine von Blumfeld in 1865. He had five children from his first marriage and two from the second, but only one, Guido Peters (1866–1937), survived and became a noted pianist.