Emma Richter (, 4 March 1888 – 15 November 1956) was a German paleontologist. She is best known for her work concerning

Trilobites Trilobites (; meaning "three-lobed entities") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. One of the earliest groups of arthropods to appear in the fossil record, trilobites were among the most successful of all early animals, ...

. She was an honorary member of the Paleontological Society of America and received an honorary doctorate from 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 ...

Life and career

Richter was born in Steinheim on 4 May 1888. She was educated at the Elisabethenschule in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, and then trained as a teacher. Richter volunteered since childhood at the

Senckenberg Museum The Naturmuseum Senckenberg () is a museum of natural history, located in Frankfurt am Main. It is the second-largest of its kind in Germany. In 2010, almost 517,000 people visited the museum, which is owned by the Senckenberg Nature Research S ...

which was where she met her husband

Rudolf Richter Rudolf Richter (7 April 1883 – 5 January 1962) was a Bohemian racewalker. He competed in the 10 km walk at the 1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as S ...

. The pair were based at the University of Frankfurt, and went on to publish more than 70 joint works over the next forty years. She held the position, ''de facto'', of curator of the Geological Section at the Senckenberg Museum, but was an unpaid volunteer both there and at the university. She developed a new way to assess trilobites through paloecological-biofacial assessment while representing her husband at the museum during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Richter also worked on several projects with her husband including producing 500

halftone Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous tone, continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect.Campbell, Alastair. ''The Designer's Lexicon''. ...

images of trilobites for their book ''Die Trilobiten des Oberdevons Beiträge zur Kenntnis devonischer Trilobiten'' and creating a comparative database with over 44,000 images. Richter also supervised doctoral students of her husband. Richter was made an honorary member of the Paleontological Society of America in 1934 and received an honorary doctorate from the

in 1949. Richter died on 15 November 1956, two months before her husband also died.

Family

Richter married Rudolf Richter, a fellow paleontologist, in 1913, and they had one daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Emma 1888 births 1956 deaths German paleontologists German women paleontologists