Othenio_Abel

Othenio Abel
Othenio Lothar Franz Anton Louis Abel (20 June

1875 – 4 July 1946) was an Austrian paleontologist Othenio Abel
and evolutionary biologist. Together with Louis Dollo,
he was the founder of "paleobiology" and studied the
life and environment of fossilized organisms.[1]
Life
Abel was born in Vienna, the son of the architect
Lothar Abel. Abel earned a PhD, after studying both
law and science, from the University of Vienna. He
remained there as an assistant to Alpine geologist
Eduard Suess, before being appointed a professor of
paleontology. Three years later, he finished his
habilitation thesis as a paleontologist at the University
Born 20 June 1875
of Vienna. From 1900 to 1907, he worked at the
Vienna
Geologische Reichsanstalt.
Died 4 July 1946 (aged 71)
In 1907, Abel became an extraordinary professor in Mondsee
Vienna, and from 1917 to 1934 he was a regular Awards Bigsby Medal (1911)
professor of paleontology in Vienna. As such, he led Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal (1920)
several expeditions that gave him broad recognition,
Scientific career
such as the Pikermi-expedition to Greece in 1912, an
American expedition (1925) and one to South Africa Fields Paleontology
(1929).
Abel became a member of the Leopoldina academy in 1935. From 1935 to 1940, he was a professor at
Göttingen University, after which he was retired, age 61. In 1942, he was appointed an honorary member
of the Paläontologische Gesellschaft.
Scientific activity
Abel mainly studied fossil vertebrates. He was a supporter of Neo-Lamarckist evolution. His main
contribution to the field, however, was the formulation, together with Louis Dollo, of paleobiology, which
combines the methods and findings of the natural science biology with the methods and findings of the
earth science paleontology. From 1928 onwards, Othenio Abel was the publisher of a journal dedicated to
paleobiology, Paläobiologica.
In 1914, Abel proposed that fossil dwarf elephants inspired the myth of giant Cyclopes, because the
center nasal opening was thought to be a cyclopic eye socket.[2] In 1920 he was awarded the Daniel
Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences.[3] He also showed great interest in cave
bear remains at the so-called "Dragon's Cave" near Mixnitz.
Abel was an advocate of orthogenesis, he believed that there were trends in evolution that were internally
programmed.[4]
Political attitude and National Socialism

Already as a student, Abel took part in antisemitic riots at the University of Vienna, during the Badeni-
crisis of 1897. After the First World War, now a professor, he gave voice to his fear of a power takeover
by "Communists, Social Democrats and Jews and more Jews tied to both". As the journalist Klaus
Taschwer publicized in 2012, Abel was responsible for the founding of a secret group of 18 professors
that sought to frustrate the research and careers of left-wing and Jewish scientists.[5][6] The rise in
violence of National Socialist student groups towards Jewish students in 1934 were met with sympathy
by Abel. When such attacks began to be directed at Catholic and international students as well, Abel, now
the university rector, was forced into early retirement by the Austrofascist board.[7] This caused him to
emigrate to Germany and accept the post in Göttingen.
He visited Vienna again in 1939, after the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. After seeing how the Nazi flag
was shown at the university building, he pronounced this the "Happiest moment of his life". The new
regime honored him with the newly created post of "Honorary Senator" of the university - an honour that
was rescinded after the Second World War, in 1945. A letter of recommendation for the Goethe Prize
points out how Abel had always "fought in the first line" against the "Judaification" of the
university.[6][8][9] After the war, he was once again forced into retirement along with other prominent
Nazi professors and spent his last days in Mondsee, then known as something of a "Nazi colony".
Selected writings
Einige Monstrositäten bei Orchideenblüthen (1897)
Ueber einige Ophrydeen (1898)
Les dauphins longirostres du boldérien (miocène supérieur) des environs d'Anvers. Brussels
1901 - 1931 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.16053
Les odontocètes du Boldérien (miocène supérieur) d'Anvers. Brüssel 1905
doi:10.5962/bhl.title.15923
Fossile Flugfische (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40166200) (1906)
"Neuere Anschauungen über den Bau und die Lebensweise der Dinosaurier." Berichte der
Sektion für Paläozoologie 16. Dezemb (1908): 117–22.
Die Morphologie der Hüftbeinrudimente der Cetaceen (https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/pa
ge/16004254). Vienna 1907 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.16064
"Die Rekonstruktion des Diplodocus." Abhandlungen der K.K. Zoologisch-botanischen
Gesellschaft in Wien 5 (1910).
"Über die allgemeinen Prinzipien der paläontologischen Rekonstruktion." 'Verhandlungen
der zoologisch-botanische Gesellschaft zu Wien LX (1910): 141–46.
"Die Vorfahren der Vögel und ihre Lebensweise." Verhandlungen der zoologisch-botanische
Gesellschaft zu Wien LXI (1911): 144–91.
Grundzüge der Paläobiologie der Wirbeltiere. Stuttgart 1912 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61833
Vorzeitliche Säugetiere. Jena 1914
Die Tiere Der Vorwelt. Leipzig & Berlin 1914.
Die Paläontologie in Forschung und Lehre. Naturwissenschaften 3 (1915), 413-19
Paläobiologie der Cephalopoden aus der Gruppe der Dibranchiaten (https://www.biodiversit
ylibrary.org/page/31957945) Jena 1916. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.46089
Die Stämme der Wirbeltiere. Berlin, Leipzig, 1919 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.2114
Lehrbuch der Paläozoologie. Jena 1920
Lebensbilder aus der Tierwelt der Vorzeit. Jena 1921 doi:10.5962/bhl.title.61701
Geschichte und Methode der Rekonstruktion vorzeitlicher Wirbeltiere. Jena 1925
Paläobiologie und Stammesgeschichte". Jena 1929
Die Stellung des Menschen im Rahmen der Wirbeltiere. 1931
Vorzeitliche Lebensspuren. Jena 1935
Die Tiere der Vorzeit in ihrem Lebensraum. Jena 1939
Vorzeitliche Tierreste im Deutschen Mythus, Brauchtum und Volksglauben. Jena 1939
References
1. Othenio Abel (https://austria-forum.org/af/Biographien/Abel%2C_Othenio) in Austria-Forum
(in German)
2. Adrienne Mayor, The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times
(Princeton University Press) 2000.
3. "Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal" (http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARD
S_elliot). National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
4. Peter J. Bowler. (1996). Life's Splendid Drama: Evolutionary Biology and the Reconstruction
of Life's Ancestry, 1860-1940. University Of Chicago Press. p. 358. ISBN 978-0226069210
5. "Hochburg des Antisemitismus" (http://derstandard.at/1338559407873/Universitaet-Wien-Ho
chburg-des-Antisemitismus), Der Standard, 12. Juni 2012
6. Klaus Taschwer, "Othenio Abel, Kämpfer gegen die "Verjudung" der Universität" (http://derst
andard.at/1348285545637/Othenio-Abel-Kaempfer-gegen-die-Verjudung-der-Universitaet),
Der Standard, 9. Oktober 2012
7. Klaus Taschwer (2014), "Der Inkor-Rektor. Eine kurze politische Biografie des
Paläontologen Othenio Abel (1875–1946)". Academia.edu (https://www.academia.edu/6918
847/Der_Inkor_Rektor_Eine_kurze_politische_Biografie_des_Pal%C3%A4ontologen_Othen
io_Abel_1875_1946_unter_besonderer_Ber%C3%BCcksichtigung_seines_Wirkens_an_der
_Universit%C3%A4t_Wien_2014_?email_work_card=view-paper) (Accessed 29 January
2023).
8. Ute Deichmann: Biologen unter Hitler, As cited in: Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum
Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945, 2. Aufl., Frankfurt a.M. 2007, S. 9,
ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8.
9. Taschwer, Klaus (2015). “Othenio Abel. Paläontologe, antisemitischer Fakultäts- und
Universitätspolitiker,” In Universität - Politik - Gesellschaft, edited by Mitchell G. Ash, and
Josef Ehmer, 287–92. Vienna University Press.
Further reading
Baumgartel, Hans. "Abel, Othenio." in Dictionary of Scientific Biography. (1970). New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons. Vol. 1: p. 17-18.
Ute Deichmann: Biologen unter Hitler. Porträt einer Wissenschaft im NS-Staat. Frankfurt:
Fischer, 1995. ISBN 3-593-34763-6
Kurt Ehrenberg (1953), "Abel, Othenio Lothar Franz Anton Louis" (https://daten.digitale-sam
mlungen.de/0001/bsb00016233/images/index.html?seite=33), Neue Deutsche Biographie
(in German), vol. 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 13; (full text online (https://www.deutsche-
biographie.de/ppn116001844.html))
"Abel, Othenio (http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/tl-2/browse.cfm?vol=8#page/18)." in
Taxonomic Literature II Online (http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/tl-2/search.cfm). (n.d.).
Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Othenio_Abel&oldid=1187632921"

Othenio_Abel

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Othenio_Abel

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Othenio_Abel

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Othenio Abel

Othenio Lothar Franz Anton Louis Abel (20 June

Political attitude and National Socialism

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Othenio_Abel&oldid=1187632921"

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.