Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger (October 25, 1856, in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

– December 24, 1936, Zagreb) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, and

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes. Archaeol ...

Education

Dragutin finished his elementary education in Zagreb,

, as well as two years of ''preparandija'' ( Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb). He started studying

paleontology Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure ge ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. Soon, he moved to

München Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, where his lecturer was Karl Zittel, a world-renowned expert in the areas of

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

and

. He received a doctoral degree in 1879, (

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

, Germany), with work related to fossilized fishes. From 1880, he was

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at the Mineralogical Department of the Croatian National Museum (today the Croatian Natural History Museum) and, in collaboration with his superior,

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Đuro Pilar, he started mapping Mount

Medvednica Medvednica (, ) is a mountain in central Croatia, just north of Zagreb, and marking the southern border of the historic region of Zagorje. Most of it is encompassed by the Medvednica Nature Park. The highest peak, at is Sljeme. Most of the are ...

, (medvjed = bear, in Croatian), a mountain just north of Zagreb. In 1890 he changed his

family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

to Gorjanović.

Lecturing

His lecturing career started in 1883 at the

Faculty of Philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

, where he taught paleontology of

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. In 1884 he was appointed assistant, later was associate, and finally full professor, in 1896. In 1893 he became head of the Geological-Paleontological Department of the Croatian National Museum. He was engaged in

stratigraphy Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithost ...

tectonics Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

paleoclimatology Paleoclimatology ( British spelling, palaeoclimatology) is the scientific study of climates predating the invention of meteorological instruments, when no direct measurement data were available. As instrumental records only span a tiny part of ...

, applied

geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...

, geological mapping, and

hydrography Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary ...

. Gorjanović-Kramberger discovered, described, classified, systemized, aged, and determined environments for numerous new species of fossilized fishes. As a young scientist at the end of the 19th century, he had already published more than fifty works in prestigious European scientific journals.

Krapina

In 1899 on Hušnjak hill, near the Croatian town of

Krapina Krapina (; ) is a town in northern Croatia and the administrative centre of Krapina-Zagorje County with a population of 4,482 (2011) and a total municipality population of 12,480 (2011). Krapina is located in the hilly Zagorje region of Croatia ...

, he discovered a very rich

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

site, the Krapina Neanderthal site of an early man today known as Krapina Man (). News of the discovery quickly spread all around Europe and beyond. Gorjanović continued extensive scientific research of osteological human material,

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

, ecological conditions, and the life and culture of people once living in Croatia. While analyzing the finds, he noticed unusually big variations among the bones. With time he realized that

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

was the source of variability which created human individuals of different stature. His analysis and interpretation of fossil remains proved the existence of early humans which he called ''Homo primigenius'', an ancestor of modern man. Later on those finds were classified as

Homo neanderthalensis Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Neanderthal extinctio ...

. Gorjanović-Kramberger's research helped prove the theory of evolution of human species, and his theories have influenced the social view of the world. He started the study of skeletons relating to modern humans and developed a technique that analyzes the

fluorine Fluorine is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at Standard temperature and pressure, standard conditions as pale yellow Diatomic molecule, diatomic gas. Fluorine is extre ...

in bones to calculate their age. In 1895 he used newly discovered

X-rays An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

to analyze inner bone structure. Results of his research related to the finds at Krapina could be found in the

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

"O diluvijalnom čovjeku iz Krapine", (''Der Diluviale Mensch von Krapina'' in German; "On the diluvial man of Krapina"), which was published in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

in 1906. The publication was the most comprehensive work ever written in the area of the paleontology of man.

Works

In 1909, he founded the Geological Commission for Croatia and

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

, with the goal of carrying out geological mapping and research in

pedology Pedology (from Greek: πέδον, ''pedon'', "soil"; and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a discipline within soil science which focuses on understanding and characterizing soil formation, evolution, and the theoretical frameworks for modelin ...

. The Croatian geological service became independent from the Geological Institute in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

and eventually became the present-day ''Hrvatski geološki institut'' (Croatian Geological Survey) in Zagreb. Gorjanović-Kramberger published more than 230 papers in Croatian and international journals during his career. He made a couple of geological maps. He was an honorary doctor of the University of Zagreb, a member of the Association of Medical Doctors and Croatian Natural Sciences Association, and an honorary citizen of Zagreb,

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

, and Krapina. Gorjanović-Kramberger was a member of nine foreign scientific associations. From 1891, he was an associate member and from 1909 a full member of the then Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts. Gorjanović-Kramberger remained active after his retirement. Between 1899 and 1929, he published 53 works related to discoveries at the Krapina site.

Notes

External links