Georg Haas (; 19 January 1905,
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
– 13 September 1981
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
) was an Austrian-born Israeli herpetologist, malacologist and paleontologist, one of the founders of zoological research in Israel. Haas studied zoology in the
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
. In 1932 he joined the
Hebrew University
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. It is the second-ol ...
staff and during the next four decades influenced several generations of young Israeli scientists.
Haas was regarded as a pioneer in zoological research in Israel and one of the country’s leading experts in the fields of biology, cytology, histology, comparative anatomy, zoogeography and the evolution of chordates and other groups of invertebrates. Haas, who had a broad classic education, was also an expert on Greek literature and history and the Roman period.
Legacy
Georg Haas is commemorated in the scientific names of two species of lizards, ''
Acanthodactylus haasi'' and ''
Sphenomorphus haasi'', and the ''
Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...
'' legged basal snake ''
Haasiophis
''Haasiophis'', consisting of the sole species ''Haasiophis terrasanctus'', is an extinct genus of snakes with hind limbs. It is one of three genera of Cenomanian snakes known to have possessed hindlimbs.
Etymology
The genus was named in honor ...
''.
References
Further reading
*
Werner YL (1965). "Georg Haas: On the occasion of his sixtieth birthday". ''Israel Journal of Zoology'' 14 (1–4): 5–6.
*Werner YL (1982). "Georg Haas, 1905–1981". ''
Copeia
''Ichthyology & Herpetology'' (formerly ''Copeia'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering research in ichthyology and herpetology that was originally named after Edward Drinker Cope, a prominent American researcher in these fi ...
'' 1982 (2): 491–493.
*Gans, Carl (1983). "Georg Haas, 1905–1981". ''American Zoologist'' 23: 343–346.
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