Albert Oppel

Carl Albert Oppel (1831–1865) was a German paleontologist.

History

He was born at Hohenheim in Wurttemberg, on December 19th, 1831. He first went to the University of Tubingen, where he graduated with a Ph.D. in 1853. The results of his work was published in Die Juraformation Englands, Frankreichs and des siidwestlichen Deutschlands (1856-1858). He went to the Palaeontological Museum at Munich in 1858 and became an assistant there. It was in 1860 that he became the Professor of Palaeontology at the University of Munich. Then, a year later, he became the director of the Palaeontological Collection. Of his later works, it can be said that the most important was Paldontologische Mittheilungen aus dem Museum des Konigl. Bayer. Staats. (1862-1865). He died on the 23rd of December 1865 at the relatively early age of 35.

tudies

Dr. Oppel devoted his life to the study of fossils and the examination of the strata of the Jurassic era deposits. He is considered to have founded the study of zone stratigraphy and the use of index fossils, a term which he created, to compare the different strata. He also established the Tithonian stage, for strata (mainly equivalent to the English Portland and Purbeck Beds) that occur on the borders of Jurassic and Cretaceous. He was awarded the Chair of Paleontology at the University of Munich.

Trivia

The wrinkle-ridge, "Dorsum Oppel", on the Moon is named after him.

ee also

List of Geologists

Paleontology

External links

* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Carl_Albert_Oppel A History of Carl Albert Oppel]