Jean-Baptiste Greppin

Jean-Baptiste Greppin (born July 28, 1819 in Courfaivre , † October 26, 1881 in Basel ) was a Swiss doctor, geologist and paleontologist.

Greppin studied medicine in Bern, Munich and Paris and was from 1846 a doctor and surgeon in Delémont and from 1867 in Basel, where he moved after the untimely death of his wife to ensure the upbringing of his sons. In 1858 he also became an artillery surgeon.

He was on the Grand Council of Bern (1847) and later on that of Basel.

He is known for his work on the geology and paleontology of the Swiss Jura , but also on the Tertiary and Quaternary. Along with Albrecht Müller , Peter Merian and Amanz Gressly, he is one of the pioneers in research into the Jura in the Basel area. His son Eduard Greppin (1856–1927) was a chemist in Basel and also important as a geologist - he belongs to the second phase of their exploration like Karl Strübin , Friedrich Mühlberg , the high school professor in Basel Andreas Gutzwiller and Louis Rollier . Another son was the psychiatrist Leopold Greppin .

He worked as an engineering geologist for the construction of railway lines. In 1850 he described a dinosaur he had found near Moutier , a sauropod . He was first named Megalosaurus meriani and later after him Cetiosauriscus greppini ( Friedrich von Huene 1922). The find is in the Natural History Museum Basel. In 1875 he donated his collection to the Saint-Imier Museum .

Fonts

Essai géologique sur le Jura suisse, 1867
Observations géologiques, historiques et critiques, 1879
Description geologique du Jura bernois, 1870

Web links

Marcel S. Jacquat / GL: Greppin, Jean-Baptiste. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . December 7, 2005 , accessed March 29, 2019 .
Biographical data at Chronologie jurassienne

Individual evidence

↑ Hansjörg Schmassmann: History of geological research in the Basel area 1900-1949 , activity report of the Natural Research Society Baselland Volume 18, 1948/49, p. 42
↑ Huene actually only introduced the genus Cetiosauriscus in 1927. In 1922 he still called it Ornithopsis greppini , but later changed that. Sometimes it is also counted among the Eusauropoda , as Incertae sedis (uncertain classification). Another older name from the 19th century for similar finds from England was Cetiosaurus.

personal data
SURNAME	Greppin, Jean-Baptiste
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swiss doctor, geologist and paleontologist
DATE OF BIRTH	July 28, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH	Courfaivre
DATE OF DEATH	October 26, 1881
Place of death	Basel

[1] Hansjörg Schmassmann: History of geological research in the Basel area 1900-1949 , activity report of the Natural Research Society Baselland Volume 18, 1948/49, p. 42

[2] Huene actually only introduced the genus Cetiosauriscus in 1927. In 1922 he still called it Ornithopsis greppini , but later changed that. Sometimes it is also counted among the Eusauropoda , as Incertae sedis (uncertain classification). Another older name from the 19th century for similar finds from England was Cetiosaurus.