Jacob Benjamin Wiesner Heckerin

Jacob Benjamin Wiesner Heckerin (20 June 1763 – 12 August 1842) was a German physicist, chemist, mathematician, mineralogist and engineer born in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Wiesner travelled to the New World after King Charles III of Spain asked for skilled German mineralogists and engineers. He discovered iron ores in Pacho and, by order of Antonio Nariño, searched for lead mines. Wiesner supported the independence efforts of Colombia for which Simón Bolívar appointed him General Director of Mines of Zipaquirá and Sesquilé salt mines. He is also known for directing engineering work to drain the Guatavita lagoon between 1822 and 1823.

Early life, family and education
He was baptized in the parish of Santa Virginia on June 28, 1763, the son of Christian Wiessner and Juana Dorotea Hacker, natives of Freiberg, Germany. He studied mines and metallurgy and graduated from his hometown's renowned university, the Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg.

In 1787, King Charles III of Spain asked the Elector of Saxony for several skilled mineralogists to teach their profession and work in the mines of the New Kingdom of Granada (mainly now part of Colombia). For this reason, eight young men were sent, including Jacob Wiesner.

Work
In September 1788, the Spanish party arrived in Cartagena de Indias as professors of mineralogy and went to the Santa Ana silver mines near the city of Mariquita, where the Director General of Mines, Juan José D'Elhuyart, employed them in different operations and jobs. At that time, the Baron de Born had discovered in Germany a new method of refining metals with practical applications to separate gold from auriferous silver, and to learn it, the famous Spanish chemist Faustino D'Elhuyart, brother of Juan José, traveled to that nation; the new arrivals knew the method and began to apply it in mineralogy establishments and the Bogotá Mint. Wiesner worked with D'Elhuyart, but the latter died shortly after, and in 1792 he went to Pamplona, where an anonymous company had been formed to exploit the silver mine in that province and a gold mine in Girón, leaving the Santa Ana mine almost abandoned and as it was the one that provided fine metals to the Bogotá Mint, when the cupellation declined, very poor coins began to be manufactured, as Boussingault noted – years later – in his famous Memoirs in 1825. In Girón there is the most valuable gold of the world since its law is 996 thousandths. While Wiesner was working there, on July 1, 1802, he married Ignacia Arriaga y Quesada; they had nine children, establishing the surname and family in South America. The renowned Wiesner family is one of the multiple German families that emigrated to Colombia. By the 19th and 20th centuries, they had established themselves as a prominent family in Zipaquirá and in the Colombian aristocracy. His descendants have served the country as government ministers, lawyers, engineers and doctors.

In 1797, when the anonymous mining company was dissolved, he went on to work in the silver mines of that same city, which were owned by the royal treasury. There he was found in 1801 by his countryman Baron Alexander von Humboldt, who treated and appreciated him extremely, recommending that the authorities take advantage of his services, especially in the closed Zipaquirá rock salt mine that had to be excavated through the tunnel system and in the Memoir he wrote on the subject, Humboldt noted that the German mineralogists lived earning their salaries at Honda but without any occupation and that they could well be employed as Wiesner's assistants. This recommendation was worth a lot, so the government assigned him at the beginning of 1806 to explore and recognize the state of the Zipaquirá salt mine. He could start the jobs after the Report, which he presented halfway with Official Carlos J. Urisarri. At the same time, he reviewed the Baja y Veta mine in Sesquilé and mapped it, as well as the Muzo emerald mine, where he made valuable observations. In 1814, by order of President Antonio Nariño, he explored the Pacho district, discovering several metal mines. Among them is lead in the San Miguel site and copper in Algodonales. Since lead was necessary for Bolívar's campaign to liberate New Granada, he built a ramada, made a furnace, and smelted lead, sending it to the government. Later he went to other places in search of copper and discovered that there was also a large quantity of iron, he did the tests and obtained small bars of that metal. In 1816 the Spanish regained control of the country until three years later, after the battle of Boyacá, Simon Bolívar was free to enter Bogotá. The Spanish employees of the Zipaquirá mines, upon hearing the news of the complete defeat of the king's armies, fled in terror, leaving the office for the sale of salts in the hands of Wiesner with the safe full of money, various belongings, weapons and Valuable objects.

After the Battle of Boyacá on August 7, Bolivar passed through Zipaquirá where Wiesner worked at the mines. The honest German kept such a large deposit intact, and when the Liberator passed through the said population, he presented him with everything he had in his hands, after which, on September 17, he received the appointment of General Director of Mines. Wiesner built underground tunnels to get the purest mineral in the Zipaquirá salt flats; he also mapped the Sesquilé salt mine.

Between 1822 and 1823 he directed the engineering works to drain the Guatavita lagoon through a contract with the businessman José Ignacio París. On the 23rd he returned to Pacho to begin the buildings and establishments of the ironworks factory with the power granted by the governor of the province, Cristóbal de Vergara Azcárate y Caycedo. He built a branch fifty varas long with two rooms at the extremities, made a furnace and melted down iron ore, got sick in one leg, and had to take it in hand to Zipaquirá, where he was cured. Years later, Vice President Santander gave him the job of Director of the Zipaquirá mine and salt factory, where he remained until his retirement. Later he dedicated himself to the manufacture of soaps and candles. The office was inherited by his son Pedro Francisco Wiesner Arriaga, and his grandson Jacobo.

Scholarly recognition and legacy
Jacob Benjamín Wiesner would later have a preponderant influence on the origins of the Colombian metal-mechanic workshops of the 19th century, first working in the Mariquita mines, then in those of Pamplona, later in the Zipaquirá salt flats, to later be commissioned around 1814 by Antonio Nariño to search for lead near Pacho, where he not only found lead but also found rich deposits of iron for the first time.

In Pacho around 1822, Wiesner would undertake the exploitation of the mineral, installing a medium-sized workshop where he would eventually start the Pacho Forge. With the creation of this workshop, a new course would be given to the history of metal workers in Colombia.

In the Pacho forge and later in the Pradera, Samacá and Amagá forges, Colombian technicians came into contact with the Industrial Revolution. This forge, with Jacob Wiesner and the French engineers who succeeded him, was a practical school for steelmaking, iron chemistry, mineralogy and combustion techniques.