Anton Handlirsch

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Anton Handlirsch's tomb

Anton Peter Josef Handlirsch (born January 20, 1865 in Vienna ; † August 28, 1935 there ) was an Austrian entomologist and paleontologist . His fundamental work on fossil insects made him a pioneer in paleoentomology.

Life

He was the son of Rosina (* 1841) and Peter Handlirsch (1831–1873). His father was employed as a cook by Prince Schwarzenberg. Anton Handlirsch attended the Academic Gymnasium in Vienna and then, at the request of his father, began studying pharmacy at the University of Vienna , which he completed with a master's degree. Encouraged by his older brother, the coroner and entomologist Adam Handlirsch (1864–1890), and by Friedrich Moritz Brauer , he turned to the study of insects. From 1886 Handlirsch worked as a scientific assistant at the Natural History Court Museum in Vienna and helped set up the new museum building that opened in 1889. He remained until his retirement at the museum, 1892 Assistant, 1899 Curator - adjunct ., 1906 Curator II class, 1918 Curator first class and retired in 1922 as Director. He now concentrated on his work as President of the Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna. 1923 awarded him the University of Graz the honorary doctorate . In 1924 he completed his habilitation at the University of Vienna, which appointed him associate professor in 1931. He never fully recovered from a stroke in 1928. He died in 1935 and was buried in the Dornbacher Friedhof (group 11, number 10) in Vienna.

Handlirsch was married to Martha Allounek (1869–1955) since 1892. The couple had a son and a daughter.

power

Handlirsch left a very extensive work. In the early years he mainly dealt with the digger wasps (Spheciformes) and other hymenoptera (Hymenoptera). Even his first work, "Monograph of the Nysson and Bembex-related digger wasps," if all parts published between 1887 and 1895 are taken together, is more than a thousand pages long. At the Natural History Court Museum, Handlirsch took care of the Hemipteren collection, which he enlarged through acquisitions and donations and brought it to global importance.

Around 1900 Handlirsch began to study fossil insects. This inevitably led him to questions of developmental history. He succeeded in placing the previously purely speculative phylogenetic hypotheses on a sound scientific basis. With his main work "The fossil insects and the phylogeny of recent forms" he became the actual founder of paleoentomology and remained the most important representative of this subject throughout his life. In the 1920s he wrote large sections of Willy Kükenthal's "Handbuch der Zoologie" and the entire 3rd volume of Schröder's "Handbuch der Entomologie".

Handlirsch earned lasting services to the Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna, which he had already joined in 1884. From 1893 he was secretary, from 1900 editor-in-chief of their specialist body “Negotiations of the Imperial-Royal Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna”. From 1919 to 1929 he led the company as President through the difficult times after the First World War .

Honors

Handlirsch has received many awards for his work. In 1921 he was appointed councilor . He had been a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences in Vienna since 1914 and a real member since 1922 . He was an honorary member of the Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna as well as the German , Swiss, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish, Russian and American entomological societies, and an honorary member of the entomological congresses. He was the recipient of the Franz Joseph Order (1911) and other high honors.

His grave is one of the of the City of Vienna honorary dedicated . In the district of Vienna Hernals is since January 18, 1966 Handl deer street named after him.

Fonts (selection)

  • Monograph of the digger wasps related to Nysson and Bembex . Meeting area Akad. Wiss. Wien Vol. 95, 1887, pp. 246-421, Vol. 96, 1888, pp. 219-311, Vol. 97, 1889, pp. 316-565, Vol. 98, 1890, pp. 440-517, Vol 99, 1891, pp. 77-166, Vol. 101, 1892, pp. 25-181, Vol. 102, 1893, pp. 657-942, Vol. 104, 1895 pp. 801-1079.
  • Monograph of the Phymatids . In: Ann. naturhist. Hofmuseums Wien 12, 1897, pp. 127–230.
  • The fossil insects and the phylogeny of recent forms . Verlag Wilhelm Engelmann, 1430 S., Leipzig 1906–1908.
  • About insect remains from the Triassic Franconia. In: Treatises of the Natural History Society of Nuremberg 18, 1912, pp. 79–82.
  • An interesting crustacean form from the Triassic of the Vosges. In: Negotiations of the Imperial-Royal Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna 64, 1914, pp. 1–8.
  • Fossil ephemeris larvae from the red sandstone of the Vosges. In: Negotiations of the Imperial-Royal Zoological-Botanical Society in Vienna 68, 1918, pp. 112–114.
  • History, literature, technology, paleontology, phylogeny and systematics of insects . In: Chr.Schroeder (Ed.): Handbuch der Entomologie , Vol. 3, 1201 S., 1040 illustrations, 1925.
  • General introduction to the natural history of arthropods . In: W. Kükenthal (Ed.): Handbuch der Zoologie , Vol. 3, 1926, pp. 211-276.
  • General introduction to the natural history of Insecta . In: W. Kükenthal (Ed.): Handbuch der Zoologie , Vol. 4, 1926, pp. 403-592.
  • Against the excessive fragmentation of the systematic groups . In: Zoologischer Anzeiger 84, 1929, pp. 85-90.
  • New studies on fossil insects with additions and supplements as well as outlooks on phylogenetic, palaeogeographical and general biological problems (PDF; 12.4 MB). In: Annals of the Natural History Museum in Vienna 48, 1937, pp. 1–140.
  • New investigations into the fossil insects with additions and supplements as well as perspectives on phylogenetic, palaeogeographical and general biological problems. Part II. The insects of the Triassic (PDF; 29.6 MB). In: Annals of the Natural History Museum in Vienna 49, 1938, pp. 1–240.

literature

Web links

Commons : Anton Handlirsch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Anton Handlirsch  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Horst Aspöck: Neuroptera research in Austria . In: Entomol. Austriaca 3, 2001, pp. 10-12.
  2. ↑ Grave sites dedicated to honor or taken into custody on account of honor in the Dornbach cemetery (PDF; 33 kB), Friedhöfe Wien, April 2012, accessed on January 31, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Handlirsch, Anton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Handlirsch, Anton Peter Josef (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian entomologist and paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1865
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH August 28, 1935
Place of death Vienna