Pere Alberch Vie (2 November 1954,

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, ...

– 13 March 1998,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

) was a Spanish

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

embryologist Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, ''embryon'', "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, ''-logia'') is the branch of animal biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and ...

. He was a professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

from 1980 to 1989, and director of the

Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales The National Museum of Natural Sciences () is a natural history museum in Madrid, Spain. Dependent on the Ministry of Science, it is one of the National Museums of Spain, and it is managed by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). Histo ...

, Madrid. He studied in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, earning a bachelor's degree from the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

(1976) and a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

(1980).

Biography

In 1976 he graduated after studying Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of Kansas. Four years later he obtained a PhD in

Zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

at the University of California. Between 1980 and 1989 he worked as both a biology professor at

and as a curator of

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

at the Museum of Comparative Zoology. He worked as an editor for magazines such as ''Trends in Ecology and Evolution'' (since 1993), ''Biodiversity Letters'' (since 1992), ''Journal of Theoretical Biology'' (since 1985) and ''Journal of Evolutionary Biology'' (1986-1991). In 1989 he returned to Spain as a research professor for the

Spanish National Research Council The Spanish National Research Council (, CSIC) is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe. Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and techn ...

and carried out an important role as director of the

. In 1998 the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutional Biology, a new research center located in

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, was interested in including Alberch to its staff. He died on March 13, 1998, at the age of 43.

Works

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References

* * * * * Embryologists Extended evolutionary synthesis Spanish biologists 1954 births 1998 deaths People from Badalona University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Kansas alumni Harvard University faculty Directors of museums in Spain Evolutionary biologists Biologists from Catalonia Herpetologists 20th-century Spanish zoologists People associated with the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales {{Spain-scientist-stub