Johan Aschehoug Kiær (October 11, 1869 – October 31, 1931) was a Norwegian

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

Biography

Johan Kiær was born in

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Viken (county), Viken, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and village ...

, Norway. He was the son of parish priest Hagbarth Kiær (1829–1903) and grandson of shipowner and Member of Parliament Hans Andersen Kiær (1795–1867). He was a nephew of Elias C. Kiær (1863–1939) operator of the family company And. H. Kiær & Co. which had been founded by his great-grandfather, Anders Hansen Kiær (1769–1838). Kiær studied zoology and then paleontology for three years under Professor

Karl Alfred von Zittel Karl Alfred Ritter von Zittel (25 September 1839 – 5 January 1904) was a German palaeontologist best known for his ''Handbuch der Palaeontologie'' (1876–1880). Biography Karl Alfred von Zittel was born in Bahlingen in the Grand Duchy o ...

(1839–1904) at

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

where in 1896 he received his doctorate. In 1909 he was appointed professor of

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

, as the first in Norway to hold such a position. He was also head of the Palaeontological Museum of Oslo which opened in 1920. His most important publication was his doctoral dissertation from 1906, ''Das Obersilur im Kristianiagebiete''. His most notable work was the excavation of a rich fauna of jawless fish and sea scorpions from the Rudstangen fauna of the Sundvollen Formation in the stratigraphy of the Ringerike Group (1908, 1911, 1924). He also took part in work on

Spitsbergen Spitsbergen (; formerly known as West Spitsbergen; Norwegian: ''Vest Spitsbergen'' or ''Vestspitsbergen'' , also sometimes spelled Spitzbergen) is the largest and the only permanently populated island of the Svalbard archipelago in northern Norw ...

and to

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...

. He work covered

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

trilobite Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the At ...

s, and especially

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...

and

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...

fishes.Obituary in ''Nature'' 129, 88-88 (16 January 1932) Kiær was responsible for the construction of the paleontological section of the Paleontologisk Museum at Tøyen in Oslo. He was an important inspiration for the work of palaeontologist

Anatol Heintz Anatol Heintz (9 February 1898 – 23 February 1975) was a Russo-Norwegian palaeontologist. He was born in Petrograd to the geophysicist Yevgeniy Alfredovich Heintz (1869–1918) and Olga Fyodorovna Hoffmann (1871–1958). He had two older si ...

(1898–1975) who was director of the Paleontological Museum from 1940.

Selected woks

*'' Das Obersilur im Kristianiagebiete'' (1906) *'' Revision der mittelsilurischen Heliolitiden und neue Beitrage zur Stammes geschichte derselben'' (1903)

References

1869 births 1931 deaths People from Drammen Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Norwegian paleontologists 19th-century Norwegian geologists 20th-century Norwegian geologists Academic staff of the University of Oslo

Johan Johan * Johan (given name) * Johan (film), ''Johan'' (film), a 1921 Swedish film directed by Mauritz Stiller * Johan (band), a Dutch pop-group ** Johan (album), ''Johan'' (album), a 1996 album by the group * Johan Peninsula, Ellesmere Island, Nunav ...

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