Heinrich Cotta
[Image:Heinrich Cotta 1833.jpg|right|thumb|Heinrich Cotta (1763–1844)]
Johann Heinrich Cotta was a German silviculturist who was a native of Kleine Zillbach, near Wasungen, Thuringia. He was founder of the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry, in Tharandt, and is known as a pioneer of scientific forestry along with Georg Ludwig Hartig, Friedrich Wilhelm Leopold Pfeil, Johann Christian Hundeshagen, and Carl Justus Heyer. He was the father of the geologist Bernhard von Cotta.
Early life
Cotta was born in Hanau to forester Nicholas Heinrich and Ursula Elisabeth née Erbe. Cotta reportedly said of himself:Initially learning forestry from his father, in 1784–85 Cotta enrolled at the University of Jena, where he studied mathematics, natural sciences and cameralism. In 1785, he returned to Zillbach to teach forestry at one of the earliest master schools of forestry, with his father. The school was established with support from Duke Carl August. Cotta became a forester in 1789. In 1795 he married Christiane née Ortmann at Kaltennordheim. In 1801 he became a member of the forestry college in Eisenach, while continuing his work at Zillbach. During this time his reputation grew, and in 1810 Cotta was appointed director of Forstvermessung und Taxation by Frederick Augustus I of Saxony.
Founder of the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry
In 1811, he established a forestry school at Tharandt, near Dresden, together with its arboretum, the Forstbotanischer Garten Tharandt, still in existence. The school later would be known as the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry; and lives on today as site of the Department of Forestry of Dresden University of Technology. The new forestry school attracted students throughout Europe, and in 1813 was visited by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Alexander von Humboldt also visited him at Tharandt. In 1841, Cotta was given an award by Tsar Nicholas I in recognition of his efforts at Tharandt.Pioneer of modern forestry
Cotta was a pioneer of modern forestry, and was a catalyst concerning the transition from "timber production" to forestry as a scientific discipline. Others who helped establish forestry included Georg Ludwig Hartig, Friedrich Wilhelm Leopold Pfeil, Johann Christian Hundeshagen, and Carl Justus Heyer. Cotta was interested in all aspects of forestry, including studies involving long-term seeding, establishment of forested areas, and tree-cutting based on mathematic practices. Cotta's methodology was based on a geometric survey of the forest, where calculations of the wood mass of individual trees as well as the yield of the entire forested region were made. By way of these calculations an estimate for the monetary worth of a forest could be assessed. In 1804 Cotta was the first to suggest the concept of a "volume table", which was a chart that was introduced decades later to aid in the estimation of standing timber volume. In 1816, Cotta wrote:Cotta established a three step approach to forestry, the first was to survey the extent, the second was to estimate the mass of wood along with growth rates, and the third was to link it to a monetary value system with forests as capital, and yield being interest over time along with calculations of economic value.