Gustava Kahler, née Aigner, (29 April 190622 March 1987) was an Austrian

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, althoug ...

and

palaeontologist 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 ...

. She was noted in particular for her work with Franz Heritsch and with her husband, Franz Kahler. In recognition of her discovery of

graptolites 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 th ...

in the northern

greywacke zone The greywacke zone is a band of Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that forms an east-west band through the Austrian Alps. The greywacke zone crops out between the Mesozoic rocks of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Austroalpine and Pe ...

, her former fellow student, Ida Peltzmann, named two species for her.

Life and career

Gustava Aigner was born on 29 April 1906 in Salzburg. Her parents were Gustav Aigner, a lawyer, and Maria, née Melbler. She was educated at the Mädchen-Reform-Realgymnasium and then studied geology, paleontology, mineralogy and petrography at the

University of Graz The University of Graz (german: link=no, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, ), located in Graz, Austria, is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-oldest university in Austria. History The univers ...

. She was only the second woman to study geology at an Austrian university. She earned her PhD in July 1929, when she was only 23 years old, with a dissertation entitled "Die Productiden des Karbons von Nötsch im Gailtal". Her dissertation was the first to reflect a redirection of study in the field away from mineralogy and crystallography and towards stratigraphy and palaeontology. She then taught for five years at the ''Realgymnasium'' for girls in Salzburg. She had originally planned to study

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

; her interest in geology was sparked by Franz Heritsch, and in 1935 she married the banker Franz Kahler, a fellow geology student of Heritsch's who had completed his doctorate in 1931. Kahler worked as a geologist in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

, in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

and finally in Carinthia, where he was appointed state geologist in 1947. She co-authored many papers both with Heritsch and with her husband, whom she assisted in a systematic study of the

Fusulinida The Fusulinida is an extinct order within the Foraminifera in which the tests are traditionally considered to have been composed of microgranular calcite. Like all forams, they were single-celled organisms. In advanced forms the test wall was dif ...

. Their study and publications covered the Late Palaeozoic stratigraphy of the Carnic Alps. In 1937, Aigner and Kahler subdivided the genus ''Pseudoschwagerina'' into five subgroups; they then proposed a subgeneric name, ''Zellia'' for one of the groups. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

in 1945, she and her husband restarted their career and established links with the world. In June 1979, the University of Graz ceremonially renewed her doctorate and she was presented the Badge of Honour by the Association of academics. In June 1980, the Verband der Akademikerinnen (Association of Women Scholars) honoured her. In recognition of her having made the first discovery of

in the northern

Greywacke zone The greywacke zone is a band of Paleozoic metamorphosed sedimentary rocks that forms an east-west band through the Austrian Alps. The greywacke zone crops out between the Mesozoic rocks of the Northern Calcareous Alps and the Austroalpine and Pe ...

, her former fellow student, Ida Peltzmann, named two species for her. Gustava Kahler-Aigner had three daughters; her first daughter was born in 1937. She underwent three serious operations and died on 22 March 1987 after a long illness.

Selected publications

* (1929) With Franz Heritsch. "Cephalopoden aus dem Unterkarbon von Nötsch im Gailtal". ''Mitteilungen der Naturwissenschaftlicher Verein für Steiermark'', pp. 43–50 * (1930) "Silurische Versteinerungen aus der Grauwackenzone bei Fieberbrunn", ''Verhandlungen der Geologischen Bundes-Anstalt'', pp. 222–24 * (1931) With Franz Heritsch. "Das Genus ''Isogramma'' im Carbon der Südalpen". Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Klasse, ''Denkschriften'' 102 pp. 303–16 * (1937) With Franz Heritsch. "Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Fusuliniden der Ostalpen": Die Pseudoschwagerinen der Grenzlandbanke und des oberen Schwagerinenkalkes. ''Paleontographica 87''(1-2): 1-44. pls. 1–3. * (1937) With Franz Heritsch. "Uber das Wirken der Klagenfurter Münze als Montanbank des Kärntner Edelmetallbergbaus" im 16. Jahrhundert. In: ''ZBHSW'', Bd. 85, S. 334–337.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aigner, Gustava 20th-century Austrian geologists Austrian paleontologists 1906 births 1987 deaths Artists from Salzburg