Božo Škerlj (28 September 1908 – 10 November 1961) was a Slovene

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

, author of eleven books and over 200 scientific articles published in journals at home and abroad. Škerlj was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

in 1908. He studied

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

and graduated in 1926. He then specialized in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

and later in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. In 1944 he was interred in

Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...

and after the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

became professor at the University in Ljubljana. He died in 1961 in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

. He won the Levstik Award in 1955 for his travelogue ''Neznana Amerika'' (Unknown America).

Selected published works

* ''Razvoj živega sveta'' (The Development of Life), with

Jovan Hadži Jovan Hadži (; 22 November 1884 – 11 December 1972) was a Slovenian zoologist of Serbs, Serbian origin. Biography Hadži was born in a Serbian family in Temišvar (today Timișoara, Romania) in what was then Austria-Hungary. He began his caree ...

and Anton Polenec, 1947 * ''Splošna antropologija v osnovnih potezah'' (General Anthropology in Basic Terms), 1948 * ''Razvoj človeka (antropogeneza)'' (The Development of Man (Anthropogeny)), 1950 * ''Neznana Amerika'' (Unknown America), 1952 * ''Ljudstva brez kovin'' (Peoples Without Metal), 1962 * ''Palme, piramide in puščave'' (Palms, Pyramids and Deserts), 1956 * ''Misleči dvonožec'' (The Thinking Biped), 1963

References

1908 births 1961 deaths Slovenian anthropologists Levstik Award laureates Dachau concentration camp survivors University of Ljubljana alumni Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana 20th-century anthropologists {{Slovenia-scientist-stub