Bernhard Peyer (25 July 1885 – 23 February 1963) was a Swiss paleontologist and anatomist who served as a professor at the
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
. A major contribution was on the evolution of vertebrate teeth.
Peyer was born in
Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...
, Switzerland, the son of a textile-factory owning namesake father and Sophie Frey. While at secondary school in Schaffhausen he met
Ferdinand Schalch in the field who influenced him into paleontology although there had been scientists in the family in the past, including the anatomist
Johann Conrad Peyer (1653-1712). In 1905 he went to study at the
University of Tübingen
The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...
and then at Munich where he listed to lectures by
Richard von Hertwig,
Ferdinand Broili and
Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach. In 1907 he graduated from the
University of Zurich
The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...
with a dissertation on ''Die Entwicklung des Schädelskeletes von Vipera aspis'' under
Arnold Lang. He received a doctorate in 1911. In 1912 he went on an expedition to Rovigno, Italy and then to South America (1912–13). In 1918 he became a Privatdozent at the University of Zurich and began to teach paleontology. One of his areas of interest was in the evolution of mammals and examined the changes in dentition. He became a full professor in 1943 and retired in 1955. His work on the evolution of teeth was translated into English as ''Comparative Odontology'' and published in 1968.
Peyer married Hildegard Amsler (widow of a cousin, mother of the paleontologist
Hans Conrad Peyer) in 1926 and they had five children. He named a
placodont ''
Cyamodus hildegardis'' in her honour in 1931. A street in
Meride
Meride is a village and former Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 14 April 2013 the former municipalities of Besazio, ...
village at the foot of
Monte San Giorgio
Monte San Giorgio is a Swiss mountain and UNESCO World Heritage Site near the border between Switzerland and Italy. It is part of the Lugano Prealps, overlooking Lake Lugano in the Swiss Canton of Ticino.
Monte San Giorgio is a wooded mountai ...
where he made many paleontological excavations was named in his honour. The species ''
Omphalosaurus peyeri'', ''
Morganucodon peyeri'' and ''
Ticinepomis peyeri'' are named after him.
See also
*
Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich
The Natural History Museum of the University of Zurich () is a natural history museum in Zurich, Switzerland. It was established in 2024 through the merger of several museums of the University of Zurich, namely the former Zoological Museum, Pal ...
References
External links
Comparative Odontology(1968) - online borrowable
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peyer, Bernhard
1885 births
1963 deaths
Swiss paleontologists