Heinrich Pierer

Heinrich August Pierer (26 February 1794 in Altenburg – 12 May 1850, Altenburg) was a German officer, lexicographer and publisher known particularly for his Universal-Lexikon der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit (Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past), a multi-volume encyclopedic dictionary first published in 1824 as Encyclopädisches Wörterbuch der Wissenschaften, Künste und Gewerbe.

In Altenburg, Pierer's father had sole printer privileges and therefore held a monopoly there (this may also be a reason why Brockhaus moved to Leipzig in 1817).

[1] Pierer was initially educated by a clergyman together with the later General Joseph von Radowitz, then attended the Pforta boarding school and studied medicine at the University of Jena from 1811 to 1813.

In 1820, after his honorable discharge from military service with the rank of major, he became a partner in his father's publishing business Pierer'sche Hofbuchdruckerei.

Pierer's Universal Lexicon served as a model for the "Das Grosse Conversations-Lexikon für die gebildeten Stände" (Great encyclopedia for the educated classes) (1840-1855).

The Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke the Elder was also one of the prominent users of the reference work (the lexicon can still be seen in his study and death room).