Björn Kurtén
Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén (* 19th November 1924 in Vaasa , † 28. December 1988 in Helsinki ) was a Finnish vertebrate - paleontologist , who is known for popular science books.
Kurten came from the Swedish minority in Finland. In 1953 he received his doctorate in Helsinki (on population dynamics of recent and fossil mammals) and taught at the University of Helsinki from 1955 , from 1972 until his death in 1988 as a professor. He was also visiting scholar at the University of Florida and Harvard University (1971).
He dealt with fossil mammals (especially bears) and dug in Tunisia and Spain, among others. He is known for popular science books, for which he received the UNESCO Kalinga Prize in 1988 . He also wrote paleontological science fiction (such as The Dance of the Tiger 1978 about the encounter between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon humans ) and hosted a Scandinavian TV series about the Ice Age in the 1980s.
Fonts
- The cave bear story: Life and Death of a vanished animal . Columbia University Press, 1976.
- The age of mammals . Columbia University Press, 1973.
- Pleistocene mammals of Europe . Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1968 (paperback Aldine Publ. 2007).
- Pleistocene Mammals of North America . Columbia University Press, 1987 (with Elaine Anderson).
- On the Evolution and Fossil Mammals . Columbia University Press, 1988.
- The dance of the tiger . Heyne Verlag, 1986 (Science Fiction).
- The world of dinosaurs . Fischer Taschenbuch, 1982 (hardcover: Kindler Verlag 1968).
- Not from the monkeys. The tribal history of man . Universitas, 1982.
- Our earliest anchestors . Columbia University Press, 1993.
- How to deep freeze a mammoth . Columbia University Press, 1986.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kurtén, Björn |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kurtén, Björn Olof Lennartson |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Finnish paleontologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 19, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vaasa |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 28, 1988 |
| Place of death | Helsinki |