Carl Hialmar Rendahl (born

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Munici ...

26 December 1891; died Stockholm 2 May 1969) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used b ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

ist and painter. He is most famous in Sweden for his authorship of ''Fågelboken'', the "bird book" which sold 60,000 copies. Rendahl attended

Jönköping University Jönköping University (JU), formerly Högskolan i Jönköping, is a non-governmental Swedish university college located in the city Jönköping in Småland, Sweden. JU is a member of the European University Association (EUA) and The Associatio ...

, graduating in 1910 and moving on to

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, s ...

where he studied

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...

Botany Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "bot ...

and

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, a ...

gaining a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1916. He was awarded a Licentiate's degree in Zoology in 1918 and he then achieved a Doctor of Philosophy and was appointed an Associate Professor in Zoology 1924. In 1933 he was appointed Professor at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. As a student, he worked as a freelance journalist, mainly writing popular science articles, and he also translated books into the Nordic languages as well as publishing drawings. He started working at the Vertebrate Department of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in 1912 and started ringing birds in 1913. From 1913 he wrote a series of zoological papers and dissertations about vertebrates. He edited the biography of

Alfred Brehm Alfred Edmund Brehm (; 2 February 1829 – 11 November 1884) was a German zoologist, writer, director of zoological gardens and the son of Christian Ludwig Brehm, a famous pastor and ornithologist. Through the book title '' Brehms Tierl ...

between 1929 and 1931. He was the editor for the series of 12 books called ''Vi och vår värld'' ("Us and our World"), two of which he wrote. He also studied the fish collected in Australia by the Swedish expedition led by

Eric Mjöberg Eric Georg Mjöberg (6 August 1882 – 8 July 1938) was a Swedish zoologist and ethnographer who led the first Swedish scientific expeditions to Australia in the early 1900s, and worked in Indonesia. The plant ''Vaccinium mjoebergii'' J.J.Sm. was ...

and by the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Knut Dahl Knut Dahl Knut Dahl (28 October 1871 – 11 June 1951) was a Norwegian zoologist and explorer who made important bird collections in northern Australia. Early years Dahl grew up at Hakadal in Akershus, Norway, where his father was an estate mana ...

, describing several new species from each. Rendahl was honoured as a Professor Emeritus in January 1958 and retired from the Museum. He continued his work up to a week before he died. He worked on, among other things, the

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

of birds which migrated into and out of Sweden. His main interests were in ichthyology, especially the

stone loach The stone loach (''Barbatula barbatula'') is a European species of fresh water ray-finned fish in the family Nemacheilidae. It is one of nineteen species in the genus '' Barbatula''. Stone loaches live amongst the gravel and stones of fast f ...

es of the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Cobitidae Cobitidae, also known as the True loaches, is a family of Old World freshwater fish. They occur throughout Eurasia and in Morocco, and inhabit riverine ecosystems. Today, most " loaches" are placed in other families (see below). The family includ ...

and the flat loaches of the family

Balitoridae The hillstream loaches or river loaches are a family, the Balitoridae, of small fish from South, Southeast and East Asia. The family includes about 202 species. They are sometimes sold as "lizardfish" or (in Germany) "flossensaugers". Many of t ...

, and

herpetology Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning " reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and r ...

. He was also a very active artist with a sizeable portfolio of watercolours, gouache, wax crayon and pastels, often abstracts which reflected his compositions and reflect his lively imagination and appreciation of form and colour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rendahl, Hialmar 20th-century Swedish zoologists Swedish ichthyologists Swedish ornithologists Swedish artists 1891 births 1969 deaths Stockholm University alumni

See also

References