Paleontologist on stamps and other philately related items
* The list of Paleointologist depicted on philately items might be not completed. Corrections, update, comments are appreciated.
Dr. Karel Absolon (1877 - 1960)
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Charles William Andrews (1860 -1924)
a British palaeontologist
whose career as a vertebrate paleontologist, both as a curator and in the
field, was spent in the services of the British Museum, Department of
Geology. His first
concerns were with fossil birds, and he described Aepyornis titan, the
extinct "Elephant Bird" of Madagascar (1894). In 1977-1978 the Post
Autrhority of Christmas Island issued serie of individual
stamp to commemorate famous persond who visited the Island. One of
thes stamps depict Charles William Andrews, who spemt several momthes
there in 1897 to
inspect it before the activities of phosphate mining compromised its
natural history. The results were published by the British Museum in
1900. Andrusov
Nikolay
Ivanovich (1861 - 1924)
was a Russian geologist, stratigrapher,
and palaeontologist. He was born in Odessa, then a part of Russia.
He studied geology and zoology at the Novorossia University in Odessa. He
then traveled across Russia and central Europe to collect fossil
specimens. The Challenger expedition of 18721876 studied
processes of the sea floor. In 1889 Andrusov published a review of this
expedition in the Mining Journal. He would later perform studies of the
geology and sediments of the Caspian Sea and the Black
Sea. In 1890-91 he participated in a deep water
expedition to the Black Sea by the Russian Geographical Society. This
expedition discovered hydrogen sulfide in the lower portions of this lake.
Andrusov was the first to propose that this substance was created by
biological decomposition of life forms (bacteria) containing sulfurous
compounds. Florentino Ameghino (1854 -1911)
He formed one of the largest collections of fossils of the
world at the time, which served him as base for numerous geological and
paleontological studies. He also investigated the possible presence of
prehistoric man in the Pampas and made several controversial claims about
human origins in South America.
was an Argentine naturalist,
paleontologist, anthropologist and
zoologist.
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807 - 1873) Switzerland
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was a paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history.In 1837 Agassiz was the first to scientifically propose that the Earth had been subject to a past ice age. In the same year, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. More info: [1]
Roy Chapman Andrews (1884 - 1960)
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was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the
director of the American Museum of Natural History. He is primarily known
for leading a series of expeditions through the fragmented China of the
early 20th century into the Gobi Desert and Mongolia. The expeditions made
important discoveries and brought the first-known fossil dinosaur eggs to
the museum.
" Andrews is allegedly the
real person that the movie character of Indiana Jones was patterned after.
Andrews was an accomplished stage master. He created an image and lived it
out impeccablythere was no chink in his armor. Roy Chapman Andrews: famous
explorer, dinosaur hunter, exemplar of Anglo-Saxon virtues, crack shot,
fighter of Mongolian brigands, the man who created the metaphor of 'Outer
Mongolia' as denoting any exceedingly remote place." Douglas Preston of
the American Museum of Natural History
With twenty-two books, and well over 200 magazine articles, Andrews did more to popularize dinosaur hunting than any professional palaeontologist, and generated more interest in Central Asia than any writer previously.
More info: [1]
Joachim Barrande (1799 - 1883)
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was a French geologist and palaeontologist, his attention was attracted to the fossils from the Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Bohemia (Czech Republic). For ten years (18401850) he made a detailed study of these rocks, engaging workmen specially to collect fossils, and in this way he obtained upwards of 3500 species of graptolites, brachiopoda, mollusca, trilobites and fishes.He was a fervent advocate of the theory of the catastrophes (as taught by Georges Cuvier), thus opposing Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Barrande's book described more than 4,000 fossil species, and it continues to be used as a reference book today.
Robert Broom (1866-1951)
More info: [1]
From 1903 to 1910 he was professor of zoology and
geology at Victoria College, Stellenbosch, South Africa, and subsequently
he became keeper of vertebrate paleontology at the South African Museum,
Cape Town.
He and John T. Robinson made a series of spectacular finds,
including fragments from six hominids in Sterkfontein, which they named
Plesianthropus transvaalensis, popularly called Mrs. Ples, but which was
later classified as an adult Australopithecus africanus, as well as more
discoveries at sites in Kromdraai and Swartkrans. In 1937, Broom made his
most famous discovery of Paranthropus robustus.
Barnum Brown(1873-1963) USA
was an American paleontologist, who born in
Carbondale, Kansas, and named after the circus showman P.T. Barnum,
discovered the second fossil of Tyrannosaurus rex during a career that
made him one of the most famous fossil hunters working from the late
Victorian era into the early 20th century.
Sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), Brown traversed the country bargaining and trading for fossils. His field was not limited to dinosaurs. He was known to collect or obtain anything of possible scientific value.
In one of its most significant finds, made in 1910, Brown's team uncovered several hind feet from a group of Albertosaurus collected in Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park
More info: [1]
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was an English geologist, palaeontologist and Dean of Westminster, who wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named Megalosaurus. His work proving that Kirkdale Cave had been a prehistoric hyaena den, for which he was awarded the Copley Medal, was widely praised as an example of how detailed scientific analysis could be used to understand geohistory by reconstructing events from deep time. He was a pioneer in the use of fossilized feces, for which he coined the term coprolites, to reconstruct ancient ecosystems. Buckland was a proponent of the Gap Theory that interpreted the biblical account of Genesis as referring to two separate episodes of creation separated by a lengthy period; it emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a way to reconcile the scriptural account with discoveries in geology that suggested the earth was very old. Early in his career he believed that he had found geologic evidence of the biblical flood, but later became convinced that the glaciation theory of Louis Agassiz provided a better explanation, and he played an important role in promoting that theory in Great Britain.
More info: [1]
A zoologist of international reputation Spiridion Brusina (born in
Dubrovnik, 1845-1908), analyzed and classified 600 fossil species. He has
a great merit for popularizing science in Croatia. Natural scientists
throughout Europe named in his honor about 50 species according to his
name.
Pierre Teilhard de Chadrin (1881-1955)
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was a French philosopher and
Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part
in the discovery of both Piltdown Man and Peking Man. Teilhard conceived
the idea of the Omega Point and developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of
Noosphere. Some of his ideas came into conflict with the Magisterium of
the Catholic Church, and several of his books were censured.
From 1912
to 1914, Teilhard worked in the paleontology laboratory of the Muse
National d'Histoire Naturelle, in Paris, studying the mammals of the
middle Tertiary period. Later he studied elsewhere in Europe. In June 1912
he formed part of the original digging team, with Arthur Smith Woodward
and Charles Dawson, to perform follow-up investigations at the Piltdown
site, after the discovery of the first fragments of the (fraudulent)
"Piltdown Man". Professor Marcellin Boule (specialist in Neanderthal
studies), who so early as 1915 astutely recognised the non-hominid origins
of the Piltdown finds, gradually guided Teilhard towards human
paleontology. At the museum's Institute of Human Paleontology, he became a
friend of Henri Breuil and took part with him, in 1913, in excavations in
the prehistoric painted caves in the northwest of Spain, at the Cave of
Castillo.
Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Chernov (1877-1963)
Soviet geologist and paleontologist.
Chernovs main works dealt with the geology and minerals of the Central and Northern Urals, the Pai-khoi mountains, and the Pechora region. Chernov provided theoretical substantiation for the existence of the Pechora Coal Basin and studied the structure of the Ukhta Oil-bearing Region. He collected extensive paleontological material, which helped establish the stratigraphy of the Paleozoic of the western slopes of the Northern Urals and of the Pai-khoi.
Grigore Cobilcescu (1831 -1892 )
was a Romanian geologist
and paleontologist, member of the Romanian Academy in 1886. It was the
first professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Iasi.
He developed the first Romanian book on geology, "Limestone from fast"
(1862), which agrees catastrophic idealistic about the origin of animals. After known Darwinism, Cobalcescu returned on his own and has become one of the most ardent supporters of this view in Romania this way and directing his students: N. Leon, Gr Antipa, D. Voinova E. Racovita
He did research stratigraphy, petrography and paleontology, especially on the Eastern Carpathians. The results of studies are included in the work accestor "Studies on the geology and paleontology of Tertiary realms of some parts of the Eastern Carpathians Geological RomnieiCercetarile gave him the opportunity to deal with oil deposits in the region, saying inorganic origin oil.
was an Irish Congregational minister, geologist, and paleontologist who gained recognition for his work in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Condon arrived in New York from Ireland in 1833 and graduated from theological seminary in 1852, after which he traveled to Oregon by ship. As a minister at The Dalles, he became interested in the fossils he found in the area. He found fossil seashells on the Crooked River and fossil camels and other animals along the John Day River. Many of his discoveries were in the present-day John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. He corresponded with noted scientists, including Spencer Baird of the Smithsonian, Edward Cope of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Joseph Leidy, O.C. Marsh, and John C.
Merriam, and provided specimens to major museums.
was an American paleontologist and comparative
anatomist, as well as a noted herpetologist and ichthyologist.
Cope had little formal scientific training, and he eschewed a teaching position for field work. He made regular trips to the American West prospecting in the 1870s and 1880s, often as a member of United States Geological Survey teams. A personal feud between Cope and paleontologist Othniel Charles Marsh led to a period of intense fossil-finding competition now known as the Bone Wars. Cope's financial fortunes soured after failed mining ventures in the 1880s, forcing him to sell off much of his fossil collection
Though Cope's scientific pursuits nearly bankrupted him, his contributions helped to define the field of American paleontology. He was a prodigious writer, with 1,400 papers published over his lifetime, although his rivals would debate the accuracy of his rapidly published works. He discovered, described, and named more than 1,000 vertebrate species including hundreds of fishes and dozens of dinosaurs. His proposals on the origin of mammalian molars and for the gradual enlargement of mammalian species over geologic time ("Cope's
rule") are notable among his theoretical contributions.
More info: [1]
Jean Lopold Nicolas Frdric Cuvier (August 23, 1769 May 13, 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist. Cuvier was a major figure in natural sciences research in the early 19th century, and was instrumental in establishing the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology through his work in comparing living animals with fossils. He is well known for establishing extinction as a fact, being the most influential proponent of catastrophism in geology in the early 19th century, and opposing the evolutionary theories of Lamarck and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. His most famous work is the Le Rgne Animal (1817; English: The Animal Kingdom). In 1819, he was created a peer for the life in honor of his scientific contributions. Thereafter he was known as Baron Cuvier.
He died in Paris of cholera.
In 1800, Cuvier was the first to correctly identify in print, working only from a drawing, a fossil found in Bavaria as a small flying reptile, which he named the Ptero-Dactyle in 1809 (later Latinized as Pterodactylus antiquus)--the first known member of the diverse order of pterosaurs. In 1808 Cuvier identified a fossil found in Maastricht as giant marine lizard, which he named Mosasaurus, the first known mosasaur. Cuvier speculated that there had been a time when reptiles rather than mammals had been the dominant fauna. This speculation was confirmed over the next two decades by a series of spectacular finds, mostly by English geologists and fossil collectors such as Mary Anning, William Conybeare, William Buckland, and Gideon Mantell, who found and described the first ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and dinosaurs.
More info: [1]
Jan Czerski (1845-1892)
was a Polish paleontologist
(osteologist), geologist, geographer and explorer of Siberia. He was
exiled to Transbaikalia for participation in the January Uprising of 1863.
A self-taught scientist, he eventually received three gold medals from the
Russian Geographical Society, and his name was given to a settlement, two
mountain ranges, several peaks and other places. He authored the first map
of Lake Baikal and died during an expedition to Kolyma. During his
expeditions he collected and cataloged over 2,500 of ancient bones,
publishing in 1888 a large work on Quaternary Period mammals followed by an even larger work on the
Siberian mammals relics in
1891.
Carlos de Lattore (1856 - 1950)
Carlos de la Torre y la Huerta was the foremost Cuban naturalist of his era, following in the footsteps of Felipe Poey. De la Torre was a naturalist of the old school, with broad interests in natural history. He focused his research on mollusks, both living and paleontological specimens. He collaborated for many years with Paul Bartsch, curator of mollusks in the United States National Museum and was a correspondent with many Smithsonian staff, including Secretary Alexander Wetmore. He donated many specimens to the U.S. National Museum during his long career.
De la Torre hosted many Smithsonian naturalists visiting Cuba and the nearby Caribbean islands; indeed, a visit to de la Torre was the first stop on the itinerary of any U.S. naturalist visiting Cuba. When the Toms Barrera expedition arrived in Cuba, de la Torre joined the group of American naturalists as they cruised the waters surrounding the island to collect specimens. De la Torre was a leading figure in the Academia de Ciencias Medicas, Fisicas y Naturales de la Habana.
Thomas Dundon (1973 - ?)
is the the CEO and President of Santander Consumer USA Inc., a company that assists with auto loans and finances. Some stamp collectors may be auto enthusiasts and need help with purchasing a particular car they enjoy driving. Many drivers looking for a new or used vehicle often turn to services like Santander to help make decisions when it comes to taking out a loan. Even drivers with poor credit can find assistance with their services.
Ivan Antonovich Efremovs (1907-1972)
was a Soviet paleontologist, science fiction author and social thinker. He originated taphonomy, the study of fossilization patterns.
In 1924, due to the influence of academician Sushkin, he
became interested in paleontology. Yefremov entered the Leningrad State
University but dro
Tarbosaurus.efremovi, Mongoloia
1967
pped out later. In
mid-1930s, he took part in several paleontological expeditions to the
Volga region, the Urals, and Central Asia. He headed a research laboratory
at the Institute of Paleontology.
During some expedition to Gobi desert in Mongolia many fossil of various dinosuars are found by I.A. Efremov. One of Tabrosaurus species is named after him: Tarbosaurus.efremovi
In the 1940s, Efremov developed a new scientific field called taphonomy (study of decaying organisms over time and how they become fossilized (if they do).) , for which he was awarded the Stalin prize in 1952. His book Taphonomy was published in 1950. He applied many taphonomic principles in his field work during a paleontological expedition to the Gobi desert in Mongolia. During these years, he was recognized as a successful scientist and won a state science award.
Edwin Harris Colbert (1905-2001)
was a distinguished American vertebrate paleontologist and prolific researcher and author.
Among the positions he held was Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History for 40 years, and Professor Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontogy at Columbia University. He was a protege of Henry Fairfield Osborn, and a foremost authority on the Dinosauria.
He described dozens of new taxa and authored major systematic reviews, including the discovery of more than a dozen complete skeletons of a primitive small Triassic dinosaur, Coelophysis at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1947 (one of the largest concentrations of dinosaur deposits ever recorded), publication of their description, and a review of ceratopsian phylogeny.
In 1959, he headed an expedition to the Geopark of Paleorrota (Brazil), within Llewellyn Ivor Price .
His fieldwork in Antarctica in 1969 helped solidify the acceptance of continental drift, by finding a 220-million-year-old fossil of a Lystrosaurus. His popularity and his text books on dinosaurs, paleontology, and stratigraphy (with Marshall Kay) introduced a new generation of scientists and amateur enthusiasts to the subject. He was the recipient of numerous prizes and awards commemorating his many achievements in the field of science.
He became curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1970.
Alcide Charles Victor Marie Dessalines d'Orbigny (1802-1857)
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was a French naturalist who made major contributions in many areas, including zoology (including malacology), palaeontology, geology, archaeology and anthropology.
D'Orbigny was born in Couron (Loire-Atlantique), the son of a ship's physician and amateur naturalist. The family moved to La Rochelle in 1820, where his interest in natural history was developed while studying the marine fauna and especially the microscopic creatures that he named "foraminiferans".
In Paris he became a disciple of the geologist Pierre Louis Antoine Cordier (1777-1861) and Georges Cuvier. All his life, he would follow the theory of Cuvier and stay opposed to Lamarckism.
In 1840, d'Orbigny started the methodical description of French fossils and published La Palontologie Franaise (8 vols). In 1849 he published a closely related Prodrome de Palontologie Stratigraphique, intended as a "Preface to Stratigraphic Palaeontology", in which he described almost 18,000 species, and with biostratigraphical comparisons erected geological stages, the definitions of which rest on their stratotypes.
In 1853 he became professor of palaeontology at the Paris Musum National d'Histoire Naturelle, publishing his Cours lmentaire that related paleontology to zoology, as a science independent of the uses made of it in stratigraphy. The chair of paleontology was created especially in his honor. The dOrbigny collection is housed in the Salle d'Orbigny and is often visited by experts.
He described as first the geological timescales and defined numerous geological strata, still used today as chronostratigraphic reference such as Toarcian, Callovian, Oxfordian, Kimmeridgian, Aptian, Albian and Cenomanian.
More info [1]
most known as
First elected president of Russian Science Academic. Hovewer, he was
also great geologist and paleontologist, who made some important
discovers at Ural mountaints area of Russia.
Vladimir Onufreivich Kowalewskij (1784-1856)
Russian paleontologist and supporter
of Darwinism, husband of Sofia Kowalewskaya first woman who was graduated
as proffesor of mathematik and teached stuidemts in University of
Stockholm. Intrigued paleontology higher vertebrates, especially
cloven-hoofed animals.
He was the one who assumed horses are appeared first in Europe continent then migrate to North America, then come back to Europe. Evidence of this theorie found more then 100 years after his suicide due to some trouble in private and commercial life in Grube Messel by Darmstadt, Germany. Very little prehistoric hourse in size of a big dog was found there and depicted on stamp of BRD in 1978.
His older brother Aleksandr who also was zoologist and Darwinist depicted on great russian scientist set (third from left in the top srow) issued by USSR in 1951 . His wife Sofia is also presents in the set (easy recognized as she is only a woman there - the first stamp in the second row from top).
Roman Kozlowski (1889 - 1977)
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Poland and the World Geology and Paleontology . Professor Roman Kozlowski, an outstanding Polish scientist, Doctor of Paleontology, a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences died on the 2nd of May, 1977.
Professor Kozlowski was a man of a great character and genuine interest in the field of his study, wholely and creatively involved in his work; his research work was his best companion and friend till the end of his life.
Born in Wloclawek, where he completed the High School of Commerce. He studied in Switzerland and at Paris University under Professor's M.Boule guidance. In 1913 he left for Bolivia receiving a position of professor and director of Geological Sciences Department at the Mining School in Oruro.
There he published eight papers dealing with natural
resources of Bolivia and geology and paleontology of Devonian and
Carboniferous, mainly with brachiopods. In 1921 Professor Kozlowski
returned to Europe. After obtaining his PhD in Natural Sciences at Paris
University, he was appointed Head of the chair of Paleontology at the
Polish Free University and soon at the University of Warsaw, where he
concentrated all his creative activity on research. As a result he
produced the greatest monument of his life - a study on
graptolites.
The specimens were collected in the Holy Cross Mountains.
Graptolites very well preserved in chalcedone layers from the
Cambrian/Ordovician boundary (Tremadocian). The belonged to the Dendroidea
group. The specimens recovered by chemical treatment performed by the
professor himself, were a revelation on the world's scale, as graptolites
were formerly known only in a flattened form in slates. The three
dimensional specimens made it possible to undertake specific anatomical
studies. With his profound zoological background, Professor Kozlowski
pointed out the inadequate systematic positions of graptolites, which he
assigned to Hemichordata.
This discovery was a great achievement at that time. Like
the monograph on graptolites each succesive research work of Professor
Kozlowski was creative, innovative and contributed significantly to the
development of science. Professor's Kozlowski investigations provided
evidence to prove that paleontology supplies materials that can give
specific morphological data, as in the case of zoology.
Through his
work he initiated a biological direction in
paleontology.
In the tragic years of war he worked as curator in the
Geological Institute as the building of the Department of Geology and
Palaeontology of the University was completely destroyed. After the end of
the war he created a new research centre, at the biginning at the
University of Warsaw, later on at the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The
latter was called Institute of Paleozoology, connected with the Section of
Biological Sciences. The number of reserches in the latter Centre reached
25 specialists representing different groups of fossil invertebrates.The
method of etching fossils in acid was developed there on large scale. The
chemical method revealed features which were impossible to be observed by
use of other methods.
The scientific activities of the late Professor Roman Kozlowski were both rich and multichanneled. Not only the number of his publications is impressive, over 40, plus about a dozen of review articles - but, above all, their originality. Each of his publications is a genuine and creative work, containing relevant emprirical data. Four are representing fundamental monographs concerning brachiopods and graptolites. Other threw new light on such little known organism as Conularia, Hydroida, Scolecodonta, Chitinozoa, Polychaeta, Cephalopoda and some others, as well as some Paleozoic organisms of unknown position.
In appreciation of his merits Professor Kozlowski received
the highest distinctions at home and abroad. He was awarded Doctor honoris
causa degrees by a number of Universities and was a honorary member of 17
international scientific organizations, He was not only a great scientist
but also a man deeply concerned with the need of the humanization of
Science.
Peter Lund (1801 -1880)
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Danish paleontologist who came in Brazil for the firts time in 1833, to continue his studies in botany and zoology.He settled in Rio de Janeiro, where he made a thorough survey of all vegetation in the Baixada Fluminese area, and also analyzed the behavior of ants.
In 1835 he decided to
settle in Lagoa Santa, in the state of Minas Gerais, finding the perfect
place to live and develop his work quitely. In nine years of research he
explored more than a hundred caves, and found about 120 fossil species and
94 belonging to the current fauna. He thus became the Father
of Brazilian Paleontology. These findings were of great importance
for the studies undertaken by British naturalist Cahrles Darwin on the
Theory of Evolution.
In 1844, Lund ended his work in the cave, and took a new direction in his research. In 1845, he sent his magnificient collection to the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and then devoted himself to botany. Currently this rich colection is at the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen.
Othniel Charles Marsh (1831 - 1899)
was an American paleontologist. Marsh was one of the preeminent scientists in the field; the discovery or description of dozens of news species and theories on the origins of birds are among his legacies.
Born into a modest family, Marsh was able to afford higher education thanks to the generosity of his wealthy uncle George Peabody. After graduating from Yale College in 1860 he traveled the world studying anatomy, mineralogy and geology. He obtained a teaching position at Yale upon his return. From the 1870s to 1890s he competed with rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope in a period of frenzied Western American prospecting now known as the Bone Wars.
Marsh and his many fossil hunters were able to uncover about 500 new species of fossil animals, which were all named later by Marsh himself. In May 1871, Marsh uncovered the first pterosaur fossils found in America. He also found early horses, flying reptiles, the Cretaceous and Jurassic dinosaurs; Apatosaurus and Allosaurus, and described the toothed birds of the Cretaceous; Ichthyornis and Hesperornis.
Marsh is also known for the so-called "Bone Wars" waged against Edward Drinker Cope. The two men were fiercely competitive, discovering and documenting more than 120 new species of dinosaur between them. Marsh eventually won the Bone Wars by finding 80 new species of dinosaur, while Cope only found 56. Cope did not take this lightly, and the two fought within scientific journals for many years to come, rumored to be at the expense of recognized scientific method.
Christian Erich Hermann von Meyer (September 3, 1801 - April 2, 1869) was a German palaeontologist.
He was born at Frankfurt am Main.
In 1832 von Meyer issued a work entitled Palaeologica, and in course of time he published a series of memoirs on various fossil organic remains: molluscs, crustaceans, fishes and higher vertebrata, including the Triassic predator Teratosaurus, the earliest bird Archaeopteryx lithographica (1861), the pterosaur Rhamphorhynchus, and the prosauropod dinosaur Plateosaurus.
In Palaeologica, von Meyer proposed a classification of fossil reptiles into four major groups based on their limbs.
His more elaborate researches were those on the Carboniferous amphibia, the Permian reptiles, the Triassic amphibia and reptiles, and the reptiles of the Lithographic slates; and the results were embodied in his great work Zur Fauna der Vorwelt (18451860), profusely illustrated with plates drawn on stone by the author.
He was associated with W Dunker and Karl Alfred von Zittel in the publication of the Palaeontographica, which began in 1851. He was awarded the Wollaston medal by the Geological Society of London in 1858.
Today, von Meyer is probably best known for describing and naming the prosauropod dinosaur Plateosaurus engelhardti from Central Europe.
Francisco Pascacio
Moreno (1852 - 1919
) Argentina
was a prominent explorer and academic in Argentina, where he is usually referred to as Perito Moreno (perito means "specialist, expert").
Perito Moreno has been credited as one of the most influential figures in the Argentine incorporation of large parts of Patagonia.
Moreno was born to Francisco and Juana Thwaites Madero in Buenos Aires. Raised in a traditional patrician family, he studied in local parochial schools. He shared his spare time with his father searching for artifacts and fossils, and at age 14, created a homemade museum of his extensive collections.
He was director of the anthropological museum of Buenos Aires, chief of the Argentine exploring commission of the southern territories, and member of numerous European scientific societies.
Dimitri Vasilievich Naliwkin (1889 - 1982) USSR
was an geologist from the Soviet Union. He was primarily interested in stratigraphy, but was also responsible in large part for mapping the geology of the USSR.
The son of a mining engineer, Nalivkin was born in St. Petersburg, and followed his father's footsteps by entering the local Mining Academy in 1907. During his training he began teaching there, and also became involved in fieldwork expeditions in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Early work dealt with Devonian brachiopods in the Kyrgyzstan portion of the Fergana Valley, and he retained an interest in this geological period throughout his career.
In 1917 he was elected to the Geological Commission of Russia, and remained with it for more sixty years. During his tenure with the Commission he was responsible for directing research into palaeontology, sedimentology and stratigraphy, work which led to the development and extraction of resources such as coal, ores and petroleum.
His most significant contribution came with the creation of the index geological maps of the USSR (and adjacent regions), which attracted considerable international attention.
Vladimir Afanasyevich Obruchev (1865-1956) USSR
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Russian expoler, geologist, paleontologist, who found big fossil site in Gobi desert of Mongolia.
He was the first who found some bones of tertiary mammals (rhinoceros tooth) in a hollow-Kuldzhin Gobi of Inner Mongolia in 1892. It is radically altered the previous understanding of the Gobi desert as the area covered by marine Tertiary sediments.
Finding Obruchev and guidance AA Borisyak the
development of the Middle Quaternary mammalian fauna of Central Asia have
been used by the expedition of the American Museum of Natural History in
the study of the southern Gobi the surrounding areas of Inner Mongolia.
From 1922 to 1925, the expedition discovered a number of localities of
reptiles and mammals in continental deposits, which were then subdivided
into 12 successive horizons of Cretaceous and Tertiary age. Especially
interesting and sensational discovery was the discovery of Cretaceous
mammals, dinosaur eggs and nests. The American expedition was a light,
mobile, technically equipped and great composition. This allows them to
search and collect materials over large areas. "No matter how significant
the opening of the Americans - wrote AA Borisyak - yet the first major
discoveries in Asia, though much farther west, were made by Russian
hunters. And that Russian scientists indicate the richness of Asian
continental deposits remains of vertebrates has prompted Americans to come
here. " Skeletons and fossils nests prototseratopsov (Protoceratops
andrewsi), found in the Gobi Desert in the early twentieth century, became
a sensation in the expedition of the American Museum of Natural
History.
Sir Richard Owen (1804 - 1892)
was an English biologist, comparative anatomist and palaeontologist.
Owen is probably best remembered today for coining the word Dinosauria (meaning "Terrible Reptile" or "Fearfully Great Reptile") and for his outspoken opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. He agreed with Darwin that evolution occurred, but thought it was more complex than outlined in Darwin's Origin. Owen's approach to evolution can be seen as having anticipated the issues that have gained greater attention with the recent emergence of evolutionary developmental biology. He was the driving force behind the establishment, in 1881, of the British Museum (Natural History) in London. Bill Bryson argues that, "by making the Natural History Museum an institution for everyone, Owen transformed our expectations of what museums are for".
More info: [1]
Gjuro Pilar (1846 - 1893)
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Roulier was active
in the field of geology and
paleontology of the suburbs, creating
a foundation for the development of evolutionary paleontology. He introduced the comparative
historical method of investigation of the organic world. Roulier work on
studying the instincts of
animals and their mental activity laid the foundations of
evolutionary trends in animal psychology.
The influence of external conditions on
the animals, the laws of geographical distribution of animals, periodic wandering birds, fish move upstream during spawning, zooetika - these
are the issues were Roulier. He examined
the body is not taken separately and in relation to the world that
preceded his appearance, the effect on
the body environment, which is where his life, some of the changes and adaptations in the organs, which
causes this environment
- all this was the basis
of the course Roulier.
Roulier in 1852 laid the so-called ecological direction in
zoogeography, which is further developed by N.A Severtsov.
Birbal Sahni (1891 - 1949)
Professor Birbal Sahni was the first Indian to revitalize study of Indian fossil plants. He was a visionary in that he saw the potential of palaeobotanical research in India in understanding plant evolution through the ages and application of this knowledge for human welfare. It was through Prof. Sahni's efforts and zeal that the Institute of Palaeobotany was founded in September 1946 at Lucknow. The Institute functions as an autonomous research organization under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to develop scientific knowledge and expertise in all branches of palaeobotany and related disciplines.
Michael Sars (1805 - 1869)
was one of the last great descriptive zoologists who catalogued organisms more or less equally successfully in all major animal groups. Sars also described fossils from various fossil beds in Norway and appears to have been keenly interested in all sorts of other issues. Sars was asked by the Parliament of Norway to investigate the biology of Norwegian fisheries, such as the herring and cod fisheries. He had started these investigations by the time of his death, but most of them were completed and published posthumously by his son, Georg Ossian Sars.
He was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1855.
Nicholas Shackleton (1937 -2006)
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Sir Nicholas John Shackleton was a British geologist and climatologist who specialised in the Quaternary Period. He was the son of the distinguished field geologist Robert Millner Shackleton and great-nephew of the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
In 1967 Cambridge awarded him a PhD degree, for his thesis
entitled 'The Measurement of Paleotemperatures in the Quaternary Era'.
Shackleton was a key figure in the field of palaeoceanography, publishing
over two hundred scientific papers. He was a pioneer in the use of mass
spectrometry to determine changes in climate as recorded in the oxygen
isotope composition of calcareous microfossils. He also found
evidence that the Earth's last magnetic field reversal was 780,000 years
ago.
Shackleton became known, in 1976, with the publication of
his paper, with James Hays and John Imbrie, in Science
entitled 'Variations in the Earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice
ages'.Using ocean sediment cores, the researchers
demonstrated that oscillations in climate over the past few
million years could be correlated with variations in the orbital and
positional relationship between the Earth and the
Sun.
Ion Simionescu (1873-1944) Romania
Ion Simionescu was an eminent geologist, geographer and paleontologist who served as Vice President and President of the Academy, and who was the author of several monumental works about Moldavia at first, then about the entire Romanian territory. The popularization of sciences and the development of a scientific culture among the general public were chief among his preoccupations.
Grigoriy Stefanescu (1836 -1911)
Romanian geologist and paleontologist (1836-1911), canceled by special stamp.The stamp depict G. Stefanescu and sceleton of Dinotherium giganteum, from "Grigore Antipa" museum of natural history in Bucharest. Gregoriu Stefanescu was director of the museum between 1867 and 1893. During this period over 4,000 zoological and mineral exhibits new collections of geology and paleontology has been added to museum's exhibitions. He is the one who discovered the skeleton of the fossil elephant Deinotherium gigantissimum, in the Meotian sands of Moldavia, unique in the world, as it is the only complete skeleton of Deinotherium giganteum discovered so far and one of the most valuable exhibits of the museum.
Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (1761 - 1838) Czech
was one of the leading
scientists of the first half of the 19th century, with a special interest
in botany, geology and paleontology, and is considered as one of the
founders of paleobotany. He is the author of an extensive and precious
collection of minerals, fossils and herbs that became the core collection
of the National Museum in Prague, founded by Kaspar Maria von
Sternberg.
Ferdinand Stolichka (1838 - 1871)
The Czech geologist, paleontologist and natural scientist of a world significance F. Stolicka graduated in geology from the Faculty of Arts in Vienna. He did mapping in the Eastern Alps, in Hungary and Dalmatia. As a paleontologist of the Indian Geological Institute he researched mainly the Himalaya and the Karakoram. He set for his first journey to the Himalaya in 1864. During the four-month expedition he created geological maps of extensive areas of the mountains; in particular, he made it an exact fact that the core of the Himalaya consists of gneiss layers covered with high primary and secondary sediments. He contributed also to other disciplines, mainly to ornithology. On his return from the third expedition to the Himalaya he died, probably of high mountain disease. The extent of Stolicka's scientific work is admirable
* The list might be not completed. Corrections, update, comments are appreciated.
**Biography of some more paleontologists can be found on Strange Science or WikiPedia websites.
Last update 21.05.2013
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