Franz Toula

Franz Toula (20 December 1845 in Vienna – 3 January 1920 in Vienna) was an Austrian geologist, mineralogist and paleontologist.
Beginning in 1863 he studied at the Polytechnic Institute in Vienna (later on, known as "Technische Hochschule Wien"), where he was a pupil and assistant to Ferdinand von Hochstetter. Later on, he worked for several years as a gymnasium instructor in Vienna. In 1880 he became an associate professor at the "Technische Hochschule", where from 1884 to 1917 he served as a full professor of mineralogy and geology. In 1893/94 he served as academic rector. He was co-founder of the "Naturwissenschaftlichen Orientverein".
From the 1870s onward, he performed geological investigations in the Balkans, about which, he was the author of numerous publications. Later on, he expanded his research to include the Ottoman Empire and Crimea. He also conducted significant stratigraphic-paleontological studies in the vicinity of Vienna.