Abich was the son of mining officer Heinrich Carl Wilhelm and his wife Johanna Wilhemine, daughter of the chemist
Martin Klaproth. He was born in Berlin and initially went to study law at
Heidelberg University but gave it up after two years and transferred to the natural sciences at
Berlin university where his teachers included
Alexander von Humboldt,
Christian Leopold von Buch and
Carl Ritter. He also studied philosophy under
Georg Hegel and history under
Leopold Ranke. His doctoral thesis in 1831 was in Latin. His earliest scientific work is related to
spinels and other
minerals. Following a recommendation by von Buch, he made special studies of
fumaroles, of the mineral deposits around volcanic vents, and of the structure of
volcanoes, travelling to Vesuvius, Aetna, Stromboli and Lipari around 1833-34. In 1842 he was appointed professor of mineralogy in the
Imperial University of Dorpat. He worked for the
Russian Empire and became a member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences in 1853. His absence from Dorpat led to his being removed from the university and being placed in the Corps of Mining Engineers under
M. S. Vorontsov. He travelled to the Caucasus, Daghestan, Armenia and northern Persia. Residing for some time at
Tiflis, he investigated the geology of the
Armenian Highland (this term was introduced by Abich) and
Caucasus. In 1844 and 1845 he ascended
Ararat volcano several times, At the age of 50 he married Adelaide (Adele) daughter of chemist
Hermann Heinrich Hess. In 1877 he retired to
Vienna, where he published two volumes on his geological explorations in the Caucasus. He received the Constantine gold medal of the
Imperial Russian Geographical Society for this, and a third volume was published posthumously, edited by
Eduard Suess, with a biography. He died in Vienna from appendicitis and according to his wishes, he was cremated and the ashes buried in his mother's grave in
Koblenz. The mineral
Abichite was named after him. ==Publications==