Klaus Jürgen Müller (born 6 February 1923 in Berlin, died 12 March 2010 in Bonn) was a German paleontologist, most famous for the discovery of

Orsten The Orsten fauna are fossilized organisms preserved in the Orsten lagerstätte of Cambrian (Late Miaolingian to Furongian) rocks, notably at Kinnekulle and on the island of Öland, all in Sweden. The initial site, discovered in 1975 by Klaus M� ...

-type preservation. In

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, he described the Devonian conodont genus ''

Palmatolepis ''Palmatolepis'' is an extinct conodont genus in the family Palmatolepidae. It was the most abundant genus of conodonts of the Late Devonian, disappearing during the Devonian/Carboniferous crisis. Species * †''Palmatolepis glabra'' * †'' ...

''. In

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, he described the

Cambrian The Cambrian ( ) is the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 51.95 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran period 538.8 Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Ordov ...

conodont Conodonts, are an extinct group of marine jawless vertebrates belonging to the class Conodonta (from Ancient Greek κῶνος (''kōnos''), meaning " cone", and ὀδούς (''odoús''), meaning "tooth"). They are primarily known from their hard ...

genera '' Furnishina'', ''

Hertzina ''Hertzina'' is an extinct genus of conodonts in the family Furnishinidae. Fossils can be found in the Wheeler Shale Cambrian (c. 507 Mya) fossil locality in Utah, United States.Oldest Conodonts in North America. David L. Clark and Richard A. Ro ...

'' and '' Westergaardodina'', and the conodont family Westergaardodinidae. In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

, he described the conodont order

Paraconodontida Paraconodonts (Paraconodontida) are an extinct order of probable chordates, closely related or ancestral to euconodonts (true conodonts Conodonts, are an extinct group of marine jawless vertebrates belonging to the Class (biology), class Con ...

Awards and tributes

In 2003, he was awarded the Pander medal by the

Pander Society The Pander Society is an informal organisation founded in 1967 for the promotion of the study of conodont palaeontology. It publishes an annual newsletter. Although there are regular meetings of the Pander Society, at the Annual Meeting of the Geol ...

, an informal organisation founded in 1967 for the promotion of the study of conodont palaeontology. The conodont genus name '' Muellerilepis'' Bardashev & Bardasheva (2013) is a tribute to K.J.Müller. It is replacement generic name for ''Muellerina'' Bardashev et Bardasheva, 2012,Muellerilepis, a new replacement generic name for Muellerina Bardashev et Bardasheva, 2012 (Conodonta). I. A. Bardashev; N. P. Bardasheva, Paleontological Journal, 2013, volume 47, issue 5, pages 554, which is a preoccupied name. The phosphatocopine genus '' Klausmuelleria'' is also named after him.

References

Conodont specialists German paleontologists 1923 births 2010 deaths Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences {{paleontologist-stub