Jacob Benjamin Wiesner Heckerin (20 June 1763 – 12 August 1842) was a German physicist, chemist, mathematician, mineralogist and engineer born in Freiberg, Saxony, Germany.
[1] Wiesner travelled to the Americas after King Charles III of Spain requested the efforts of skilled German mineralogists and engineers.
[2] Wiesner was baptized in the parish of Santa Virginia on June 28, 1763, the son of Christian Wiessner and Juana Dorotea Hacker, natives of Freiberg, Germany.
In 1787, King Charles III of Spain asked the Elector of Saxony for several skilled mineralogists to teach their profession and work in the mines of the New Kingdom of Granada (now part of Colombia).
[3] At that time, the German Baron de Born had discovered a new method of refining metals with practical applications to separate trace amounts of gold within silver.
On the 23rd[clarification needed] he returned to Pacho to begin construction of an ironworks factory on the authority of the province governor, Cristóbal de Vergara Azcárate y Caycedo.
Wiesner built a structure fifty varas long with two rooms at either end, made a furnace and melted down iron ore, but fell ill soon after and returned to Zipaquirá.
Years later, Vice President Santander gave Wiesner the job of Director of the Zipaquirá mine and salt factory, where he remained until his retirement.
Jacob Benjamín Wiesner greatly shaped the origins of Colombian metal-mechanic workshops of the 19th century, first through working in the Mariquita mines, then in Pamplona, and later in the Zipaquirá salt flats.
The Pacho Forge, under the stewardship of Jacob Wiesner and the French engineers who succeeded him, became a practical school for steelmaking, iron chemistry, mineralogy, and combustion techniques.