Zdeněk Vlastimil Špinar
Zdeněk Vlastimil Špinar (born April 4, 1916 in Čáslav , † August 14, 1995 in Dolní Prysk ) was a Czech paleontologist .
Life
Špinar studied chemistry and biology at Charles University in Prague from 1935 to 1939 . Due to the war, he did not receive a diploma until 1945. During the Second World War, he worked in road construction and chemical plants. After the war, under the influence of his teacher Josef Augusta , he turned to vertebrate paleontology and published in 1952 on Discosauriscidae from Moravia, early terrestrial vertebrates (from the group of Seymouriamorpha ), which he recognized as belonging to the amphibians (at that time they were still predominantly attributed to counting the reptiles). In 1968 he received his doctorate from Charles University and became a professor there.
Špinar mainly dealt with fossil amphibians (frogs), numerous well-preserved fossils of which were discovered in the Oligocene to Miocene of northern Bohemia. He is known - like his teacher Augusta - as the author of popular scientific works, illustrated by the famous illustrator Zdeněk Burian , which have been translated into many languages, including English and German. He also worked with the illustrator Ludomir Dédkiem. These works and those of Augusta and Burian long shaped the popular scientific image of fossil creatures such as dinosaurs and Neanderthals before the advent of computer animation.
Špinar also published about finds of frogs from the German Tertiary such as Rott near Bonn and Willershausen in Lower Saxony.
Fonts
- Animals of prehistoric times. Development of life on earth , Weltbild Verlag 1990. Illustrations by Z. Burian
- Life in prehistoric times , illustrations by Z. Burian, Hanau, Dausien 1976
- Tertiary Frogs from Central Europe , Prague, The Hague 1972
- Vertebrate Paleontology , Academia 1984 (Czech)
- Basics of invertebrate paleontology , Akad. Wiss., Prague 1960 (Czech)
- Systematic paleontology of invertebrates , Academia 1966 (Czech)
Web links
- Literature by and about Zdeněk Vlastimil Špinar in the catalog of the German National Library
- Literature and other media by and about Zdeněk Vlastimil Špinar in the catalog of the National Library of the Czech Republic
- photos
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Špinar, Zdeněk Vlastimil |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Špinar, Zdeněk V. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech paleontologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 4, 1916 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Čáslav |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 14, 1995 |
| Place of death | Dolní Prysk |