Ernst stromer biography

German paleontologist best remembered for his expedition to Egypt, during which the discovery of the first known remains of Spinosaurus was made.
Ernst Stromer, a German paleontologist, died Dec. 18, 1952, at the age of 81.
In 1901, German paleontologist Ernst Stromer paid his first visit to Egypt.

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Scientist of the Day - Ernst Stromer

Ernst Stromer, a German paleontologist, died Dec. 18, 1952, at the age of 81. In January of 1911, Stromer found the first dinosaur bones ever unearthed in Egypt. He was investigating the Bahariya oasis in the Western Desert, some 200 miles SW of Cairo, when the bones – 3 very large limb bones – came to light. Stromer had to return to Germany, but in 1912, Richard Markgraf, Stromer’s fossil collector, discovered a partial skeleton of an unknown dinosaur at the same site in Bahariya, which he shipped to Stromer, who by this time was back in Munich. The fossils consisted of a lower jaw, many teeth, and some vertebrae that had an odd feature – dorsal spines, up to a meter long, that stuck straight up, as if supporting a sail. Stromer reconstructed the dinosaur as best he could (there were no leg bones at all) and published a paper about the find in the Abhandlungen (Discourses) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He called the new dinosaur Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, and he realized from the outset that this was one big theropod – almost

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Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach (12 June 1870 – 18 December 1952) was a Germanpaleontologist.

He described the following Cretaceousdinosaurs from Egypt: Aegyptosaurus, Bahariasaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, and the largest known theropod, Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.

Biography[]

Ernst Stromer had an aristocratic standing in German society (the "Freiherr" in his name roughly equals "baron" in English); his father had been the mayor in his home city of Nuremberg, and his ancestors had been lawyers, courtiers, scientists, architects, and other leaders.

Ernst Stromer was married in 1920 and had three sons, all of whom became soldiers in the German army. Two died, while the third was a prisoner by the Soviets. Many assumed that he was dead until he was returned to Germany in 1950.

Expedition to Egypt[]

Arrival[]

On November 7, 1910, Stromer arrived for a paleontological expedition in Alexandria, Egypt, aboard the Norddeutscher Lloyd steamship Cleopatra. However, Stromer was still aboard the ship two days later because the ship had been put into quarantine;

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Ernst Stromer

German paleontologist

Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach (born on 12th of June, 1871 in Nürnberg, died on 18th of December, 1952 in Erlangen) was a German paleontologist best remembered for his expedition to Egypt, during which the discovery of the first known remains of Spinosaurus was made.

Stromer described several discoveries made in Egypt, including a few dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period discovered in Egypt (Aegyptosaurus,Bahariasaurus, and Carcharodontosaurus), an enigmatic theropod (Spinosaurus aegyptiacus) and a giant crocodilian (Stomatosuchus).

In 1929 fossil bird genus Stromeria (now included in the genus Eremopezus) were named in Stromer’s honour by Kálmán Lambrecht. Smith et al. (2001) also named the sauropod Paralititan stromeri in his honour.^[1]

Many of the fossils discovered by Stromer were destroyed during World War II, leaving today’s scientists only a few photographs of the previously existing specimens to rely on.

Biography

Ernst Stromer had an aristocratic standing in German society (the "