He was born in a forester's lodge at
Kleine Zillbach,
Meiningen, near
Eisenach, the son of
Heinrich von Cotta, founder of the
Tharandt Forestry Academy near
Dresden. He was educated first at the Tharnadt Academcy, then at the
Bergakademie Freiberg and the
University of Heidelberg.
Botany at first attracted him and he was one of the earliest to use the
microscope in determining the structure of
fossil plants. Later on he gave his attention to geology, to the study of
ore-deposits, of
rocks and
metamorphism. one of the first comprehensive works on the subject issued in the English language, which gave great impetus to the study of rocks in
Britain. He also worked with Professor
Carl Friedrich Naumann to publish geological maps of the region of
Saxony between 1836 and 1847. He was an early supporter of
Darwinism. He died in
Freiberg, Saxony. His daughter, Alice von Cotta, born in 1842, worked at
Bedford College, London, and later as a school principal at the women's school Victoria-Lyceum in Berlin. ==Commemorations==