Rudolf Ruedemann (October 16, 1864–June 18, 1956) was a German American

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 ...

, widely known as an expert in

graptolite Graptolites are a group of colonial animals, members of the subclass Graptolithina within the class Pterobranchia. These filter-feeding organisms are known chiefly from fossils found from the Middle Cambrian ( Miaolingian, Wuliuan) through t ...

s, enigmatic fossil animals. He worked at the

New York State Museum The New York State Museum is a research-backed institution in Albany, New York, United States. It is located on Madison Avenue, attached to the south side of the Empire State Plaza, facing onto the plaza and towards the New York State Capitol ...

for over 40 years, including a decade as State Paleontologist of New York. and was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 1928. Born in

Georgenthal Georgenthal is a municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. The former municipalities Leinatal, Hohenkirchen and Petriroda Petriroda is a village and a former municipality in the district of Gotha, in Thuringia, Germany. ...

, Germany, he was educated in Europe, earning a PhD in 1887 from the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

(Ph.D., 1887), and a second doctorate in 1889 from the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

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 Dolgeville is a village in Herkimer and Fulton counties, New York, United States. The population was 2,206 at the 2010 census. The village is named after the industrialist Alfred Dolge. The village is mostly in the eastern part of the town of ...

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 Eurypterids, often informally called sea scorpions, are a group of extinct arthropods that form the order Eurypterida. The earliest known eurypterids date to the Darriwilian stage of the Ordovician period 467.3 million years ago. The group is l ...

("sea scorpions"),

trilobites 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 ...

, and cephalopods. 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 {{Paleontologist-stub