Franz Alfred Schilder

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Franz Xaver Alfred Johann Schilder (born April 13, 1896 in Královské Vinohrady , German Royal Vineyards, today a district of Prague; † August 11, 1970 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German biologist , taxonomist , malacologist and honorary professor of animal geography and biometrics of Austrian descent.

Earlier career

He was the first child of Hofrat Dr. Franz Schilder (1863–1925) and the writer Marie Schilder (1870–1940). According to his own statements, in addition to German, he also spoke Greek, Latin, English, French, Czech and Italian. Even the high school student Schilder drew attention to himself when he wrote his first work on the tiger beetle (Cicindelidae) at the age of 14 . The total of 10 essays, which he wrote in a short time, were published in the Entomologische Blätter and in the Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift .

Shortly before the First World War began, Franz Schilder began studying medicine at the University of Vienna in the winter semester of 1914/15. After only one semester, he had to interrupt his studies and moved to the Austro-Hungarian Telegraph Replacement Battalion in St. Pölten. He returned to Vienna in November 1918 as an Austro-Hungarian reserve lieutenant. Here he continued his studies in natural sciences. In his dissertation he dealt with the zoological and geographical aspects of the Cypraeacea (superfamily with cowries and egg snails ), which from now on were continuously examined by signs until the end of his life. Immediately after his admission as a full member of the Vienna Zoological and Botanical Society in 1921, he gave the summarizing lecture “ The porcelain snails in the life of the peoples ” in front of the attendant Anton Handlirsch . After receiving his doctorate, he did research as a volunteer in the mollusc department at the Natural History State Museum in Vienna . In October 1922 he was appointed by the then director of the German Entomological Institute , Dr. Walther Horn, recruited and therefore moved to Berlin. However, due to the economic crisis in 1923, he was released after only one year. Schilder moved again, this time to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research, where he took up an assistant position with the brain researcher Oskar Vogt . This employment relationship also ended after only two years.

Time at the Biological Reichsanstalt in Naumburg (Saale)

In the summer of 1925 Schilder got a job at the Biological Reichsanstalt for Agriculture and Forestry (later Biological Reichsanstalt ) at the branch in Naumburg (Saale) . Here, in collaboration with the director of the Carl Julius Bernhard Börner Institute, he published numerous publications on research and control of phylloxera .

For him, however, the focus was on the cowries. Since at that time he still had no opportunity to explore this as part of his professional activity, he moved the research to his free time. Together with his wife Maria Schilder (née Hertrich, 1898–1975) he made several trips from 1927 to 1939, during which he visited museums and private collections and, according to his own statements, was able to make detailed records and measurements on over 60,000 cases of porcelain snails. The trips were supported by foreign institutes and private scholars. As a result, he published - mostly together with his wife Maria - treatises that were published in 17 different countries. These publications earned him further invitations, including from the Royal Society .

Time at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg

After the Second World War, it was initially no longer possible for him to carry out his studies as before. Because he could no longer travel and many of his previous connections had to be given up, he initially lacked the material required for research. Only in the course of the 1950s could old and new relationships with collectors all over the world be used again to obtain new material for research on cowrie shells.

The natural science faculty of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg applied in October 1945 to appoint Franz Alfred Schilder “honorary professor for his extensive and meritorious research in the field of animal geography and variation statistics.” Schilder accepted the position and continued teaching 1968 from. His retirement took place in 1962. He also lectured once a week from 1954 to 1963 at the University of Leipzig .

After his retirement he worked together with his wife Maria on the most important work for him, the monograph “ A catalog of living and fossil cowries ”. During this time he was solely concerned with the research and taxonomy of cowrie shells. In total, he left over 400 publications and described 45 new genera and 483 new species and subspecies.

Works (selection)

  • Literature by and about Franz Alfred Schilder in the catalog of the German National Library
  • FA signs: body size and number of organs of the organisms . Niemeyer, Halle (Saale) 1950.
  • FA Schilder: Textbook of general zoogeography . G. Fischer, Jena 1956.
  • FA Schilder, M. Schilder: A catalog of living and fossil cowries . Memoirs Institut Royal Sciences Naturelle de Belgique, 1971.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Sign, Franz Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schilder, Franz Xaver Alfred Johann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Royal vineyards
DATE OF DEATH August 11, 1970
Place of death Halle (Saale)