ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Georgius Agricola

Georgius Agricola was a smart man who was born a really long time ago, in the year 1494. He lived in Germany and used his brain to learn a lot about rocks, minerals, and other things that can be found in the ground. He wanted to know how people could get these things out of the ground and use them in new and exciting ways.

You know how when you dig in the dirt, you might find things like rocks, worms, or grass? Well, Georgius Agricola was really interested in finding out what was under the ground too. He spent a lot of time studying the different kinds of rocks and minerals, and he even made pictures to show what they look like.

Agricola wanted to help people use these things to make things that could help them in their everyday lives, like metal tools or medicines. He wrote a book called "De Re Metallica" that was all about how to find and remove different kinds of metal from the ground.

Even though Georgius Agricola lived such a long time ago, we still use a lot of his ideas today when we dig in the ground to find things like gold, silver, and copper. He was really smart, and he helped us learn a lot about the things that are hidden underground.