Bobb Schaeffer
Bobb Schaeffer (born September 27, 1913 in New Haven , Connecticut , † June 2, 2004 in Rochester , New York ) was an American vertebrate paleontologist. He was a curator on fossil fish at the American Museum of Natural History .
Life
Schaeffer attended Cornell University (Bachelor in 1936) and Columbia University , where he received his master’s degree in 1937 and his doctorate in zoology in 1941 ( Morphological and functional evolution of the tarsus in amphibians and reptiles ). From 1936 he was a student of the curator William King Gregory at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1941/42 he was a demonstrator for histology and anatomy at Jefferson Medical College. After serving in the US Army in medical administration, he was Assistant Curator at the American Museum of Natural History from 1946, Associate Curator for fossil fish from 1949 and curator for vertebrate paleontology from 1955. In 1966 he became head of the vertebrate paleontology department. In addition, he taught zoology at Columbia University, from 1955 as Visiting Associate Professor, from 1957 as Adjunct Professor and since 1959 as Professor. In 1976 he retired, but was also active in the museum and in research afterwards.
He dealt with the systematics, morphology and embryology of fish. Among other things, Schaeffer investigated the development of the jaw in early fish and, in the mid-1970s, hypothesized that the formation of the jaw was associated with a simultaneous increase in the brain and was the result of a neomorphic mutation .
In 1988 he received the Romer-Simpson Medal , the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology , of which he was president in 1953 and of which he became an honorary member in 1987.
He had been married since 1941 and had a son and a daughter.
Web links
- Biography at the American Museum of Natural History
- Obituary in the New York Times
- Literature by and about Bobb Schaeffer in the bibliographic database WorldCat
Individual evidence
- ↑ Birth and career data according to American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schaeffer, Bobb |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American paleontologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1913 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Haven , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 2, 2004 |
| Place of death | Rochester , United States |