Rudolf Stahlecker (25 November 1898 in Sternenfels near

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

– 26 October 1977 in Urach) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and biology teacher.

Biography

He studied with the 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 ...

Friedrich von Huene Baron Friedrich Richard von Hoyningen-Huene (22 March 1875 – 4 April 1969) was a German nobleman paleontologist who described a large number of dinosaurs, more than anyone else in 20th-century Europe. He studied a range of Permo-Carbonife ...

at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. He participated in expeditions to collect fossils in the

geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which Sustainability, sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant s ...

of Paleorrota in 1928 and 1929. He also made several collections of fossils in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In his honor, the dicynodonts '' Stahleckeria potens'' received its name. This

dicynodont Dicynodontia is an extinct clade of anomodonts, an extinct type of non-mammalian therapsid. Dicynodonts were herbivores that typically bore a pair of tusks, hence their name, which means 'two dog tooth'. Members of the group possessed a horny, t ...

s was collected in

Paleontological Site Chiniquá The Palaeontological Site Chiniquá is located in the Brazilian municipality of São Pedro do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, along highway BR-287, about 70 kilometers west of the city of Santa Maria. The site occupies an area of about 250 hectares and ...

, São Pedro do Sul. After finishing his doctorate, Stahlecker did not become a scientist but a biology teacher at a school in Stuttgart. His motto was, "the ''Führer'' wanted to teach people to think again biologically; we scientists have to be here as its first collaborators". After World War 2, he had to pause for some years during de-Nazification, thought he was not as intensely involved in the Nazi Party as his brother, Walter Stahlecker.Hans-Joachim Lang
Stahleckeria seit 80 Jahren in der hiesigen Paläontologischen Sammlung
an
Prunkstück aus der Steinwüste.

Schwäbisches Tagblatt The ''Schwäbisches Tagblatt'' is a daily newspaper for Tübingen, in print since 1945, as well as the publishing house that prints it. With 40,820 paid subscriptions in 2012, it is the newspaper with the highest circulation in the district of T� ...

of 20. Mai 2009 (in German).

Biography

References

Further reading