Waltershausen was born at
Göttingen and educated at
this city's university. There he devoted his attention to physical and natural science, and in particular to
mineralogy. Waltershausen was named after
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was close friends with his parents. Waltershausen's father, Georg, was a writer, lecturer and professor of economics and history at Göttingen.
Georg Sartorius (later Sartorius von Waltershausen) is best known in his role of translator and popularizer of Adam Smith's
Wealth of Nations. His son,
August, was a well known economist who specialized in American economy, and had at least one of his books translated into English. During a tour in 1834–1835 Waltershausen carried out a series of
magnetic observations in various parts of Europe. He then gave his attention to an exhaustive investigation of the
volcano of
Mount Etna, in
Sicily, and carried on the work with some interruptions until 1843 including with
Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters. The chief result of this undertaking was his great
Atlas des Ätna (1858–1861), in which he distinguished the
lava streams formed during the later centuries. After his return from Mount Etna, Waltershausen visited
Iceland, and subsequently published
Physisch-geographische Skizze von Island (1847),
Über die vulkanischen Gesteine in Sizilien und Island (1853), and
Geologischer Atlas von Island (1853). Meanwhile, he was appointed professor of mineralogy and geology at Göttingen, and held this post for about thirty years, until his death. In 1866 Waltershausen published an important essay entitled ''Recherches sur les climats de l'époque actuelle et des époques anciennes''; in this he expressed his belief that the
Ice age was due to changes in the configuration of the Earth's surface. He died in Göttingen. In 1880,
Arnold von Lasaulx edited Waltershausen's notes and published the book
Der Aetna (cover page pictured). ==
Gauss zum Gedächtnis==