William Adam (27 Januari 1909,
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
– 3 November 1988,
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
) was a Dutch /
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
malacologist
Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...
who specialised in
cephalopods. Adam described a number of
cuttlefish and
bobtail squid species, including ''
Euprymna hoylei'', ''
Sepia cottoni'', ''
Sepia dollfusi'', ''
Sepia dubia'', ''
Sepia reesi'', ''
Sepia sewelli'', ''
Sepia thurstoni'', ''
Sepia vercoi'', and ''
Sepiola knudseni''.
Adam was born as the son of Constance Jeannette Barkhuijsen and the merchant sailor William Adam. After his schooling in The Hague he visited Java in 1926-27. Upon his return home he studied biology at
Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
, obtaining his PhD in 1933 with a dissertation on terrestrial mollusk glands. He then took a position at the
Museum of Natural Sciences
The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium (french: Muséum des sciences naturelles de Belgique, nl, Museum voor Natuurwetenschappen van België) is a museum dedicated to natural history, located in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is a part of t ...
in Brussels, where he climbed the ranks. In 1952 he became a Belgian citizen.
In 1957 Adam became correspondent of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
References
1909 births
1988 deaths
Belgian curators
Belgian malacologists
Belgian zoologists
Dutch curators
Dutch malacologists
20th-century Dutch zoologists
Teuthologists
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Officers of the Order of Leopold II
Scientists from The Hague
Utrecht University alumni
Academic staff of the University of Antwerp
Dutch emigrants to Belgium
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