author
Karl Alfred von Zittel
1839–1904
A pioneering German paleontologist, geologist, and mineralogist, he helped turn paleontology into a more systematic science. His landmark Handbuch der Palaeontologie became a standard reference for generations of researchers.
2 Audiobooks
Grundzüge der Paläontologie (Paläozoologie). 1. Abteilung: Invertebrata.
by Karl Alfred von Zittel
Grundzüge der Paläontologie (Paläozoologie). 2. Abteilung: Vertebrata.
by Karl Alfred von Zittel
About the author
Born in Bahlingen, Baden, on September 25, 1839, Karl Alfred von Zittel studied at Heidelberg, Paris, and Vienna before beginning his career in Austria. He later taught in Karlsruhe and, from 1866, worked in Munich, where he became closely associated with the Bavarian state collections and the University of Munich.
Von Zittel is best remembered for his major reference work, Handbuch der Palaeontologie, published in the late 19th century. The project gathered and organized an enormous range of fossil knowledge, and it helped establish paleontology as a disciplined, carefully classified field of study.
He also carried out important geological and paleontological research of his own, including studies connected with North Africa and the Sahara. He died in Munich on January 5, 1904, leaving behind a body of work that continued to shape fossil research long after his lifetime.