Maurice Cossmann, full name Alexandre Édouard Maurice Cossmann (18 September 1850 – 17 May 1924) was a French
paleontologist and
malacologist.
Maurice Cossmann's father was an artist draughtsman and a talented lithographer. His early education was at
Condorcet College in Paris and he later gained the Diploma of the
Central School of Arts and Manufacturing in the same city. He was then employed by the
Compagnie des chemins de fer du Nord. Cossmann made all his career there, finally as Chief of the Engineering services (Ingénieur Chef des Services Techniques). Married and without a child, he loved to tell how the arrival of a small collection of fossils had led to his future studies of paleontology. Cossman specialised in the fossils of the
Paleogene
The Paleogene ( ; British English, also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period, geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million yea ...
and
Neogene
The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...
periods. Certain of his works are still a major reference especially:
*''Iconographie complète des coquilles fossiles de l'Éocène des environs de Paris'', in English Iconography of the fossil shells of the
Eocene of the Paris basin) written with
G. Pissaro (1904–1913, ca. 3000 pages and 110 plates) and
*''Conchyliologie néogénique de l’Aquitaine'' in English
Neogene
The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...
Conchology of
Aquitaine with
A. Peyrot (in Actes de la Société Linnéenne de Bordeaux, 1909–1932, vol. 45–85, ca. 4500 pages and 121 plates).
Cossman published, sometimes collaboratively, 186 works (scientific papers and monographs) between 1879 and 1926 and he was the Editor of ''Revue critique de paléozoologie et de paléophytologie'' Paris 1897–1919. His work is described in two obituaries written by G.F.Dollfus in 1925 and A.R.Kabat in 1989.
External links
*
French malacologists
French paleontologists
1850 births
1924 deaths
{{paleontologist-stub