Ferdinand Broili (11 April 1874 in Mühlbach – 30 April 1946 in Mühlbach) was a German

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

. He took a special interest in the Permian amphibians and reptiles and described the fossil tetrapod ''

Seymouria ''Seymouria'' is an extinct genus of seymouriamorph from the Early Permian of North America and Europe. Although they were amphibians (in a biological sense), ''Seymouria'' were well-adapted to life on land, with many reptilian features—so ma ...

'' in 1904. He revised Zittel's ''Grundzüge der Paleontologie''. Broili was born the son of J. B. Broili, squire, in Mühlbach Castle in Lower Franconia. He studied natural sciences at the universities of

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is, after Nuremberg and Fürth, the Franconia#Towns and cities, third-largest city in Franconia located in the north of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It sp ...

and

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where his influences were Karl von Zittel and August Rothpletz.Prof. F Broili / Obituary
Nature 158, 16-17 (06 July 1946) , doi:10.1038/158016b0 In 1899 he received his doctorate from Munich with a dissertation on ''

Eryops megacephalus ''Eryops'' (; from Greek , , 'drawn-out' + , , 'face', because most of its skull was in front of its eyes) is a genus of extinct, amphibious temnospondyls. It contains the single species , the fossils of which are found mainly in early Permian (a ...

'', titled ''Ein Beitrag zur Kenntnis von Eryops megacephalus''. In 1903 he obtained his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

, and in 1908 became an associate professor at the university. In 1919 he was appointed director of the ''Staatssammlung fur Palaontologie und historische Geologie'' ("State Collection for Paleontology and Historical Geology") in Munich. In 1901 he traveled to the Texas Red Beds, where with

Charles Hazelius Sternberg Charles Hazelius Sternberg (June 15, 1850 – July 20, 1943) was an American fossil collector and paleontology, paleontologist. He was active in both fields from 1876 to 1928, and collected fossils for Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel C. Marsh, ...

, he collected and studied fossil vertebrates of the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years, from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.902 Mya. It is the s ...

period. In 1903 his habilitation was on the fauna of the pachycardia tuff. Later on in his career, he carried out significant investigations of

pterosaur Pterosaurs are an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 million to 66 million years ago). Pterosaurs are the earli ...

fossils from the

Solnhofen limestone The Solnhofen Limestone or Solnhofen Plattenkalk, formally known as the Altmühltal Formation, is a Jurassic Konservat-Lagerstätte that preserves a rare assemblage of fossilized organisms, including highly detailed imprints of soft bodied organi ...

of Bavaria. In the 1930s, with Joachim Schröder, he published a 28 volume series on vertebrates of the Karoo Formation of South Africa (''Beobachtungen an Wirbeltieren der Karroo Formation''; 1934–37). The Permian amphibian genus ''

Broiliellus ''Broiliellus'' is an extinct genus of dissorophoid temnospondyl within the family Dissorophidae. ''Broiliellus'' is most closely related to the genus '' Dissorophus'', and both have been placed in the subfamily Dissorophinae. ''Broiliellus'' ...

'' commemorates his name. He retired in 1939. His collections were destroyed in the bombing of Munich and he moved back to his paternal estate.

Selected works

* ''Permische stegocephalen und reptilien aus Texas'', 1904 – Permian

stegocephalia Stegocephali (often spelled Stegocephalia, from Greek , lit. "roofed head") is a clade of vertebrate animals containing all fully limbed tetrapodomorphs. It is equivalent to a broad definition of the superclass Tetrapoda: under this broad ...

ns and reptiles of Texas.
''Grundzüge der Paläontologie''
(by Karl von Zittel, new edition by Broili, 1910–11). * ''Zur Osteologie des Schädels von Placodus'', 1912 – The osteology of the skull of ''

Placodus ''Placodus'' (from , "a plate" and , "tooth") is an extinct genus of marine reptiles belonging to the order Placodontia, which swam in the shallow seas of the middle Triassic period (c. 240 million years ago). Fossils of ''Placodus'' have been f ...

''. * ''Die permischen Brachiopoden von Timor'', 1916 – The Permian

brachiopod Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...

s of

Timor Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is Indonesia–Timor-Leste border, divided between the sovereign states of Timor-Leste in the eastern part and Indonesia in the ...

. * ''Permische brachiopoden von Rotti'', 1922 – The Permian brachiopods of

Rote Island Rote Island (, also spelled ''Roti'') is an island of Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara Provinces of Indonesia, province of the Lesser Sunda Islands. According to legend, this island got its name accidentally when a lost Portuguese people ...

. * ''Zur geologie des Vogelkop'', 1924 – The geology of

Vogelkop The Bird's Head Peninsula (Indonesian: , , meaning Bird's Head in Indonesian and Dutch) or Doberai Peninsula (''Semenanjung Doberai'') is a large peninsula that makes up the northwest portion of the island of New Guinea, comprising the Indonesia ...

. * ''Ein neuer Fund von Pleurosaurus aus dem Malm Frankens'', 1926 – A new discovery of ''

Pleurosaurus ''Pleurosaurus'', from Ancient Greek πλευρά (''pleurá''), meaning "rib" or "side", and σαυρος (''sauros''), meaning "lizard", is an extinct genus of aquatic reptiles belonging to the order Rhynchocephalia. ''Pleurosaurus'' fossils ha ...

'' from the

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third Epoch (geology), epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time scale, geologic time from 161.5 ± 1.0 to 143.1 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic stratum, strata.Owen ...

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

. * ''Mixosauridae von Timor'', 1931 –

Mixosauridae Mixosauridae was an early group of ichthyosaurs, living between 247.2 and 235 million years ago, during the Triassic period. Fossils of mixosaurs have been found all over the world: China, Timor, Indonesia, Italy, Germany, Spitsbergen, Switzerlan ...

of Timor. * ''Zur Osteologie des Kopfes von Cynognathus'', 1934 – The

osteology Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practiced by osteologists . A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, archaeology and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone mo ...

of the skull of ''

Cynognathus ''Cynognathus'' is an extinct genus of large-bodied cynodontian therapsids that lived in the Middle Triassic. It is known from a single species, ''Cynognathus crateronotus''. ''Cynognathus'' was a predator closely related to mammals and had a s ...

''.OCLC Classify
published works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Broili, Ferdinand 1874 births 1946 deaths People from Bad Neustadt an der Saale Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich German paleontologists