2009 - THE DARWIN BICENTENNIAl, and
40 YEARS SINCE VON HUENE'S DEATH
Friedrich Freiherr (Baron) von Huene was born in Tübingen on March 22, 1875, and he died there on Good Friday, April 4, 1969 but in between he was one of the most extensively travelled palaeontologists of his day, one of the few to explore the southern hemisphere for fossil vertebrates. His work on the osteology, systematics and phylogeny of various groups of reptiles and amphibians is well known, especially his contribution to the palaeontology of dinosaurs (Colbert, 1968).
V. Huene’s life and work is documented by: (1) The Museum of the Department of Geology and Paleontology, Tübingen, which specializes in dinosaurs, marine reptiles, stegocephalians and therapsids; (2) v. Huene’s scientific estate, removed from his home Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie in August and housed now in the Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Löwentor ; (3) his extensive travel diaries, owned by his daughters; (4) his autobiography (v. Huene, 1944); (5) his numerous publications; (lists were published by v. Huene, 1944, and Seilacher & Westphal, 1969; Reif & Lux 1987 and online at Geol. Soc., London by Turner 2009); and (6) his correspondence now at Freiburg University.
I am researching the family life of von Huene and the work of his eldest daughter, Erika, who also became a vertebrate palaeontologist (Turner et al. 2010 in press Geol. Soc. Special on The History of Dinosaurs).
40 YEARS SINCE VON HUENE'S DEATH
Friedrich Freiherr (Baron) von Huene was born in Tübingen on March 22, 1875, and he died there on Good Friday, April 4, 1969 but in between he was one of the most extensively travelled palaeontologists of his day, one of the few to explore the southern hemisphere for fossil vertebrates. His work on the osteology, systematics and phylogeny of various groups of reptiles and amphibians is well known, especially his contribution to the palaeontology of dinosaurs (Colbert, 1968).
V. Huene’s life and work is documented by: (1) The Museum of the Department of Geology and Paleontology, Tübingen, which specializes in dinosaurs, marine reptiles, stegocephalians and therapsids; (2) v. Huene’s scientific estate, removed from his home Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie in August and housed now in the Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart, Löwentor ; (3) his extensive travel diaries, owned by his daughters; (4) his autobiography (v. Huene, 1944); (5) his numerous publications; (lists were published by v. Huene, 1944, and Seilacher & Westphal, 1969; Reif & Lux 1987 and online at Geol. Soc., London by Turner 2009); and (6) his correspondence now at Freiburg University.
I am researching the family life of von Huene and the work of his eldest daughter, Erika, who also became a vertebrate palaeontologist (Turner et al. 2010 in press Geol. Soc. Special on The History of Dinosaurs).
(top) young Baron von Huene
(middle) Erika's Doctoral Thesis
(left} Young Erika in Tübingen - that's her in the far left corner of the picture
(Photos courtesy the Institute of Geosciences, Tübingen )