Karl Alfred von Zittel


Zittel, Karl Alfred von

 

Born Sept. 25, 1839, in Balingen; died Jan. 5, 1904, in Munich. German geologist and paleontologist.

In 1863, Zittel became a professor of mineralogy, geology, and paleontology at the Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule, and in 1866 he was appointed a professor at the University of Munich. He was elected president of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences in 1899.

Zittel took part in expeditions to Scandinavia, France, Italy, Libya, and Egypt. He studied the biostratigraphy of Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary deposits. Zittel’s principal works are Guide to Paleontology (vols. 1–5, 1876–93) and Foundations of Paleontology (vols. 1–2, 1895; Russian translation, part 1, 1934). These works fostered the development of paleontology and provided a wealth of material for reference and study.

WORKS

Geschichte der Geologie und Paläontologie bis Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts. Munich-Leipzig, 1899.
Grundzüge der Paläontologie (Paläozoologie), sec. 1, 6th ed.; sec. 2, 4th ed. Munich-Berlin, 1923–24.
In Russian translation:
Pervobytnyi mir: Ocherki po istorii mirozdaniia. St. Petersburg, 1873.