Karl Ernst Adolf von Hoff (1771–1837)

German geologist, geographer, and civil servant. Entered the civil service in Gotha in 1791; director of the Ober-Consistorium, 1829. In charge of the astronomical observatory from 1826; became the supervisor of scientific collections in Gotha in 1832. Devoted his free time to geology and mineralogy. Published Geschichte der durch Überlieferung nachgewiesen natürlich Veränderungen der Erdoberfläche (1822), insisting, in opposition to the prevailing catastrophist views, that researchers should study forces in operation on the earth at the present time, and apply this knowledge to the earliest history of the earth, a principle later known as Aktualismus.