Johann Nepomuk von Fuchs

He was born at Mattenzell, near Falkenstein in the Bavarian Forest. In 1807 he became professor of chemistry and mineralogy at the university of Landshut, and in 1823 conservator of the mineralogical collections at Munich, where he was appointed professor of mineralogy three years later, on the removal thither of the university of Landshut. He retired in 1852, was ennobled by the king of Bavaria in 1854, and died at Munich on 5 March 1856.

He is largely known for his mineralogical observations and for his work on soluble glass, an alkaline silicate utilized in stereochromy, a special kind of fresco painting. Historically, the substance was sometimes referred to as "Fuchs's soluble glass". Also, he developed a scientific method for the production of cement and made contributions in his research involving the amorphic state of solid bodies.

He coined the mineral names wagnerite (1821) and margarite (1823), and with Adolph Ferdinand Gehlen, was co-describer of the mineral mesolite (1816). A variety of muscovite called fuchsite commemorates his name.

• Ueber die Entstehung der Porzellan-Erde, 1821 – On the origin of porcelain earth.
• Neue Methode das Bier auf seine wesentlichen Bestandtheile zu untersuchen, 1836.
• Naturgeschichte des Mineralreichs, 1842 – Natural history of the mineral world.
• Über die Theorien der Erde, den Amorphismus fester Körper und den gegenseitigen Einfluß der Chemie und Mineralogie, 1844 – In regards to earth science, the amorphism of solid bodies and the mutual influence of chemistry and mineralogy.
• La stéréochromie: peinture monumentale, 1861 (French translation by Léon Dalemagne).