Gerhard Heilmann
Gerhard Heilmann , also Heilman , (born June 25, 1859 in Skælskør ; † March 26, 1946 ) was a Danish artist and amateur ornithologist and paleontologist. He is best known as the author of a book on the origin of birds.
Heilmann was the son of a pharmacist, attended the Polytechnic in Roskilde and then began studying medicine, which he broke off in 1883 to become a painter. From 1890 he worked in the Copenhagen porcelain factory and from 1902 as a freelance artist and illustrator of books. Since he was a hobby ornithologist, he particularly illustrated books on natural history and birds. He was also involved in the design of Danish banknotes.
Due to the fact that at that time the collarbones of theropods (like Compsognathus , who at that time was often considered to be close to the forerunners of birds) were not known (in contrast to the wishbone of birds), he spoke out against the descent of birds from this dinosaur group . Instead, he suspected their origin with the Thecodontia . However, fork legs were found in a theropod ( Segisaurus ) as early as 1936 and later in many others. Older finds before Heilmann's articles were published were misinterpreted and only later identified as wishbones. Heilmann's views were accepted until the 1960s and 1970s.
From 1913 to 1916 he published a series of works in the journal of the Danish Ornithological Association (Dansk Ornitologisk Forenings Tidskrift) on the origin of birds, illustrated by himself. While it received little attention or even fought in Denmark, it received more attention in Anglo-Saxon countries - an English edition came out in 1926 (The Origin of Birds, London, Witherby).
Scansioriopteryx heilmanni , a bird-like dinosaur, was named after him in 2002.
literature
- CJ Ries Creating the Proavis: Bird origins in the art and science of Gerhard Heilmann 1913-1926 . Archives of natural history, 34 2007, 1-19
- Nieuwland Gerhard Heilmann and the artists view of science 1912-1927 , PalArchs Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 3, 2004, pdf
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Heilmann, Gerhard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Heilman, Gerhard; Heilmann, Gerhard Vilhelm Ernst |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Danish paleontologist and illustrator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 25, 1859 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Skælskør |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 26, 1946 |