Abstract: Within the Habsburg monarchy, due to the comprehensive re-organisation of the universities in 1849, Rudolf Kner (1810-1869) was the first person to become appointed Professor in Zoology. He was also the first person who brought scientific zoology to the University of Vienna and later became a well-known ichthyologist. The present biographical survey treats the career of the Linz-born R. Kner from his basic education to his employment in the k.k.Natural Cabinet in Vienna (1836-1841), to the professorship in Lemberg/Galicia (Lviv/Ukraine; 1841-1848) and finally (1849) to the Professorship in Zoology in Vienna. This curriculum
is displayed in connection with the circumstances of Knerâs private life and his thoughts as noted in his early diaries as well as in his correspondance. Friends and colleagues in the âBiedermeierâ period (1820-1848) are considered, as are later relations. The familyâs association with Waldegg-Oed (Lower Austria) where, after 1856, the Kners also owned their country-house, is presented.
Abstract: Amber is of great paleontological importance because it preserves a diverse array of organisms and associated remains from different habitats in and close to the amber-producing forests. Therefore, the discovery of amber inclusions is important not only for tracing the evolutionary history of lineages with otherwise poor fossil records, but also for elucidating the composition, diversity, and ecology of terrestrial paleoecosystems. Here, we report a unique find of African amber with inclusions, from the Cretaceous of Ethiopia. Ancient arthropods belonging to the ants, wasps, thrips, zorapterans, and spiders are the earliest African records of these ecologically important groups and constitute significant discoveries providing insight into the temporal and geographical origins of these lineages. Together with diverse microscopic inclusions, these findings reveal the interactions of plants, fungi and arthropods during an epoch of major change in terrestrial ecosystems, which was caused by the initial radiation of the angiosperms. Because of its age, paleogeographic location and the exceptional preservation of the inclusions, this fossil resin broadens our understanding of the ecology of Cretaceous woodlands.
Abstract: Josef Victor Rohon (Rohony, Rohonyi) was born on 7 May 1845 at Temes-Buttyin (formerly in the south Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, today: Butin, Timis district, Romania). The protestant family originated from the northern part of Hungary (today: Slovakia); his grandfather Juraj (György) Rohonyi (1773-
1831) was born in Horný KalnÃk (Slovakia) and later moved southward in the course of a late Swabian trek. Juraj Rohonyi is well known for his engagement in favour of Slavic religion and literature and for being an ardent opposer of native Hungarians; he anticipated many pro-Slavic ideas later typical for Ján Kollár and LudovÃt Å túr.
With his wife Eva Plachlinsky Juraj had at least one son: Ferdinand (Nándor) Rohonyi (1823-1884), an evangelic teacher and preacher at Glozsán (Gložan / Serbia), who married Rosa (Rózsa) Wodár on 25 June 1844.
Josef Victor Rohon appears to have been the coupleâs only child. He completed his school leaving examination on 30 January 1865 at Oedenburg (Sopron / Hungary) and began studying evangelical protestant theology at the University of Vienna on 14 October 1867. Later on he abandoned these studies and registered for medical studies in Vienna in summer 1871. He then got very interested in neuroanatomy and zoology, and collaborated scientifically with Theodor Meynert, Carl Claus and Johann Kundrat. Around 1882 his studies brought him in contact with Eduard Albert, who would become very important for his later life and belated
career. Due to formal reasons Rohon could not finish his studies at Vienna University and moved to Munich early in 1883, where he completed his medical studies magna cum laude on 1 August 1884. Being a victim of political plots, apparently initiated by Karl Langer von Edenberg, who wanted to take revenge on Rohon for pro-Slavic agitation in Vienna, Rohon was unable to gain an official post at an Austrian university or museum, and even his Habilitation in Munich was obstructed. Early in 1888, with increasing financial problems, Rohon moved to Saint Petersburg, where he lived on private income under burdensome conditions. Only late in his life, in 1895, at the age of 50, was he offered a chair at the Czech University of Prague as adjunct professor of histology (later on histology and embryology), thanks to his connections to Eduard Albert, Karel Maydl and Arnold
Spina. In 1903 he became full professor of histology and embryology at the Czech University, and in 1908/09 he was elected dean of the medical faculty. On 30 September 1915 he officially retired and he died on 15 March 1923 in Prague. To our knowledge Rohon published 31 scientific works, nine of which concerning neuroanatomy, the others covering palaeontological, mainly palaeoichthyological topics. Within this rich scientific lifework the paper âHistiogenese des Rückenmarkes der Forelleâ (histogenesis of spinal cord in young trout; published in 1885) deserves closer attention, for it is the first detailed study on apoptotic cells
in the spinal cord of anamniotic vertebrates, which were later named Rohon-Beardcells in honour of Josef Victor Rohon and John Beard (1857-1924). In his paper âUeber unter-silurische Fischeâ (on lower Silurian fish; 1890) Rohon was the first to describe vertebrate remnants of the Ordovician period. To complete the biographical
sketch a full account on Rohonâs publications is given, followed by an edition of three letters Rohon wrote to Eduard Albert and six letters to Wilhelm Heinrich Waagen.
Abstract: The present study summarizes the correspondence of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) with the palaeontologist Melchior Neumayr (1845-1890), two letters of Charles Darwin are edited for the first time. Neumayr was the first person to become appointed full professor in Palaeontology at the Vienna University. He interpreted palaeontology as a dynamic science elucidating the evolutionary history of life on earth, not only as an aiding tool for geology (in the sense of producing and determining index-fossils), as most of his predecessors did. In some of his important papers Neumayr proved that fossil taxa underwent a morphological change in the course of time due to change in environmental conditions, a fact which naturally greatly interested Charles Darwin. The few then known palaeontological examples of transmutation in species (Edward Forbes & Thomas Spratt 1846, 1847; Moritz Hoernes 1854; Franz Hilgendorf 1863, 1866) are reviewed in short. Being the main topic of Darwin and Neumayrâs correspondence, the life and publications of the nearly forgotten German geologist and palaeontologist Leopold Würtenberger (1846-1886) are discussed at length. Würtenberger himself corresponded with Darwin and Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919); in 1880 he published his main work âStudien über die Stammesgeschichte der Ammonitenâ, which included four phylogenetic charts (âStammtafelnâ). These
belong to the oldest fossile-based phylogenies ever published.
Abstract: The present study focuses on the geological and palaeontological activities and publications of the Austrian zoologist Rudolf Kner. After Kner had studied medicine in Vienna and had been working in the "k.k. Hof-Naturalienkabinett" (the predecessor of the Museum of Natural History in Vienna) he was offered a chair at the university of Lvov (Ukraine), where he gave lectures on "Naturgeschichte" (natural history) and "Landwirtschaftslehre" (agricultural sciences). His stay in Lvov was of crucial importance for the geological exploration of Galicia: Kner went on several field-trips all over east Ukraine; along the Carpathians he even reached Romania. He collected lots of fossils, which he showed to the "Versammlung deutscher Naturforscher und Ãrzte" (annual meeting of naturalists and doctors) during a stay at Graz (Styria) in 1843, later (1846) he demonstrated his finds in Vienna. Kner sent fossils to important institutions in Austria ("k.k. Montanistisches Museum", the predecessor of the Geological Survey of Austria, and to the "k.k. Hof-Naturalienkabinett") and to Germany. Moreover he gave public lectures at Lvov concerning Ukrainian geology. Some original manuscripts and so far unpublished sources give insight into these activities. After Kner had been appointed to professorship of zoology at the Vienna university (1849) he devoted his work more or less to ichthyology, nevertheless he published a textbook on geology and palaeontology in 1851 (2nd edition 1855). In his later years (around 1860) he got interested in palaeontology again and did research on fossil fish of Austria, Germany and Italy. Kner privately collected fossils and sold his collection in 1858 to the University of Vienna; some information on the whereabouts of these specimens and a complete list of Knerâs geoscientific publications is given.
Abstract: Private collectors, although not working as professional scientists, often pave the way for scientific knowledge by communicating specimens or findings within a social network. This fact is illustrated by two extensive biographies: first, Knight Leopold Johann Nepomuk von Sacher (1797-1874), chief of police at Lviv (1831-1847), Prague (1848-1854) and Graz (1855-1856), a keen collector of scientific and artistic items. Second, Carl Eggerth jun. (1861-1888), son of rich Viennese citizens, student at the Vienna University and hobby-lichenologist, who died at the age of 26 and left a herbarium of around 35.000 lichen specimens.
