Mineralogist, chemist, founder and editor of scientific review, knight, court counsel, member of Royal Society and other scientific societies.
Ignác Born (in German texts mentioned as Ignaz von Born), was an excellent scientist of his time. As the Commissary of the Mining Office, he was the first in Hungary to be interested in mining, the study of mineral sciences.
He lived most of his life in Vienna and Prague, and was welcomed in the Austrian court; but he never denied his origins. When Ferenc Kazinczy visited Born, he said: Do you know that I am Hungarian as well? I am from Károlyfehérvár (Gyulafehérvár; today Alba Iulia, Romania). In his work Pályám emlékezete (Memories of My Career) Kazinczy described Born as being a skinny chemist with an amber-coloured complexion. And this feeble man travelled all over Europe.
There is a lot of uncertainty regarding the birthplace of Ignác Bornand, knight and court counsel. According to what he said to Kazinczy, he was born in Gyulafehérvár (today Alba Iulia, Romania) but there is no record as to his birthplace in the Episcopal Archives. József Szinnyei, in his work Magyar írók élete és munkái, Budapest 1891(The Lives and Works of Hungarian Writers) and Czech sources place his birthplace in Kapnikbánya (today Cavnic, Romania).
He began his studies in Nagyszeben (today Sibiu, Romania). In 1755 he continued his studies in Vienna, after that he studied law in Prague. Then he went to study to Germany. Later he travelled to Holland, France and Spain to study natural sciences and mining. On his return to Prague he worked in the field of natural sciences and mining.
In 1769 he was appointed Counsel of the Mining Office in Selmecbánya. Here the young scientist met the professors of the newly founded Mining Academy and started collaborating with them. By this time his background knowledge in natural sciences and mining, his library and collection of minerals had become impressive. He also kept in touch with many outstanding scientists of his time.
From 1770 as the assessor of the Coining-Press and Mining Bureau in Prague, he travelled the mining areas of Transylvania, Southern Hungary, studying the mining and metallurgical conditions, and the minerals. He epitomize his experiences in 28 letters which J.J. Faber summarized in a book entitled: Borns Briefe über Mineralogische Gegenstande auf seiner Reise durch das Temeswarer Banat, Sieben Bürgen, Ober und Nieder Ungarn. Since an ordinance issued by the court prohibited the publications on mining. Born found a solution to outwit that ordinance: he published his book abroad, in such a way that it gave the impression that the letters were addressed to Sweden. His book was translated in English (1777), Italian (1778) and French (1780) and it is of great importance since it became the reference for the mint and metallurgical conditions in Banat. It was not this book, which made him famous, but a new method that he introduced of extracting metals by amalgamation. He improved the technical processes, more economic ones, for extracting gold and silver from their ore with mercury. He tested his methods at Szklenófürdő (today Kúpele Sklené Teplice, Slovakia) near Selmecbánya (today Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia) helped by University Professor Antal Rupprecht.
In September 1786 for the international presentation of the amalgamation methods 27 outstanding representatives of the fields of mining and metallurgy gathered from 8 countries. This was the first international scientific and technical conference in the field of mining and metallurgy. The participants, following Born’s suggestions, founded the first International Scientific Society in the world. This society aimed at o-operating within the heavy industry in order to promote human progress, culture and welfare. No wonder he was regarded by many as an alchemist, although Born was against alchemy and pointed out its mistakes.
He was appreciated during his lifetime: he was the member of the Royal Society in London, and the scientific societies in Göttingen, Toulouse, Stockholm, Uppsala, Padova, Sienna and Sank Petersburg. The mineral barite (Cu5FeS4), a common copper ore mineral, discovered by him while he was sorting out the court’s collection, was named in his honour. He was the editor of the publication: Physikalische Arbeiten der einträchtigen Freunde in Wien. (1783–84), which contained many writing about the conditions regarding nature in Hungary. His articles in the the field of natural sciences was published mainly in two collections founded by Born: Abhandlungen einer Privatgesellschaft in Böhmen (1775–84) and Crell. Chemischen Annalen (1790–91).
He was the prototype of Sarastro in Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute”. He was a versatile and experiences scientist, an enlightened thinker, a pioneer researcher and practitioner of mineralogy and metallurgy in Banat. Although he had miasma, he didn’t stay much in Temesvár (today Timişoara, Romania) – he spent most of his time in the mining towns and villages in the mountains.
