Rudolf Ruedemann (October 16, 1864–June 18, 1956) was a
German American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
paleontologist, widely known as an expert in
graptolites, enigmatic fossil animals. He worked at the
New York State Museum for over 40 years, including a decade as State Paleontologist of New York. and was elected to the U.S.
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
in 1928. Born in
Georgenthal, Germany, he was educated in Europe, earning a PhD in 1887 from the
University of Jena (Ph.D., 1887), and a second doctorate in 1889 from the
University of Strasbourg where he was an assistant in geology from 1887 to 1892. He emigrated to the United States in 1892 and taught at the high schools of
Lowville and
Dolgeville, New York for several years before joining the State Museum in 1899, where he worked for the remainder of his career. Although his primary interests were in graptolites he also made contributions to other areas of invertebrate paleontology, describing new species of fossil corals,
eurypterids ("sea scorpions"),
trilobites, and
cephalopods
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda (Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, an ...
.
He was married with a daughter and six sons, and retired in 1937.
References
*John Rodgers (1974)
Rudolf Ruedemann 1864—1956
American paleontologists
Paleozoologists
1864 births
1956 deaths
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
University of Jena alumni
University of Strasbourg alumni
German emigrants to the United States
19th-century German zoologists
19th-century American zoologists
20th-century American zoologists
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