Bernhard Peyer (25 July 1885 – 23 February 1963) was a Swiss paleontologist and anatomist who served as a professor at the University of Zurich. A major contribution was on the evolution of vertebrate teeth. Peyer was born in

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; gsw, Schafuuse; french: Schaffhouse; it, Sciaffusa; rm, Schaffusa; en, Shaffhouse) is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the ...

, Switzerland, the son of a textile-factory owning namesake father and Sophie Frey. While at secondary school in Schaffhausen he met Ferdinand Schalch in the field who influenced him into paleontology although there had been scientists in the family in the past, including the anatomist

Johann Conrad Peyer Johann Conrad Peyer (26 December 1653 – 29 February 1712) was a Swiss anatomist who was a native of Schaffhausen. Biography He studied medicine in Paris under Guichard Joseph Duverney (1648–1730), in Montpellier under Raymond Vieussens (1635 ...

(1653-1712). In 1905 he went to study at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

and then at Munich where he listed to lectures by

Richard von Hertwig Richard Wilhelm Karl Theodor Ritter von Hertwig (23 September 1850 in Friedberg, Hesse – 3 October 1937 in Schlederloh, Bavaria), also Richard Hertwig or Richard von Hertwig, was a German zoologist and professor of 50 years, notable as the fir ...

Ferdinand Broili Ferdinand Broili (11 April 1874 in Mühlbach – 30 April 1946 in Mühlbach) was a German paleontologist. He studied natural sciences at the universities of Würzburg and Munich, where his influences were Karl von Zittel and August Rothpletz. ...

and

Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach (12 June 1871 in Nürnberg – 18 December 1952 in Erlangen) was a German paleontologist. He is best remembered for his expedition to Egypt, during which the first known remains of ''Spinosaurus'' w ...

. In 1907 he graduated from the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

with a dissertation on ''Die Entwicklung des Schädelskeletes von Vipera aspis'' under

Arnold Lang Arnold Lang (18 June 1855 – 30 November 1914) was a Swiss naturalist, a comparative anatomist and student of German biologist Ernst Haeckel. Biography In March 1876 he earned his PhD from the University of Jena, and two months later became hab ...

. He received a doctorate in 1911. In 1912 he went on an expedition to Rovigno, Italy and then to South America (1912–13). In 1918 he became a Privatdozent at the University of Zurich and began to teach paleontology. One of his areas of interest was in the evolution of mammals and examined the changes in dentition. He became a full professor in 1943 and retired in 1955. His work on the evolution of teeth was translated into English as ''Comparative Odontology'' and published in 1968. Peyer married Hildegard Amsler (widow of a cousin, mother of the paleontologist Hans Conrad Peyer) in 1926 and they had five children. He named a

placodont Placodonts (" Tablet teeth") are an extinct order of marine reptiles that lived during the Triassic period, becoming extinct at the end of the period. They were part of Sauropterygia, the group that includes plesiosaurs. Placodonts were genera ...

''Cyamodus hildegardis'' in her honour in 1931. A street in Meride village at the foot of

Monte San Giorgio Monte San Giorgio is a mountain and UNESCO World Heritage Site on the border between Switzerland and Italy. It is part of the Lugano Prealps, overlooking Lake Lugano in the Swiss Canton of Ticino. Monte San Giorgio is a wooded mountain, rising ...

where he made many paleontological excavations was named in his honour. The species '' Omphalosaurus peyeri'' and '' Morganucodon peyeri'' are named after him.

References

External links

Comparative Odontology
(1968) - online borrowable {{DEFAULTSORT:Peyer, Bernhard 1885 births 1963 deaths Swiss paleontologists