Gerolf Steiner

Gerolf Steiner (born 22 March 1908 in Strasbourg, Alsace, † 14 August 2009), pseudonyms: Harald Stümpke and Hararuto Shutyunpuke, was a German zoologist, university teacher and writer.

Life

Steiner earned his doctorate in 1931 at the University of Heidelberg. He habilitated in 1942 at the Technical University of Darmstadt and 1947 at the University of Heidelberg, where he was appointed associate professor two years later. In 1962 he became an associate in 1966 and full professor at the Technical University of Karlsruhe.

Steiner became known worldwide through the book construction and life of the Rhinogradentia, where he, inspired by Christian Morgenstern nasobem, the anatomy and habits of Rhinogradentia, a fictitious mammal order described. He published his imaginary as a scientific joke book in 1961 under the pseudonym Prof. Dr. Harald Stümpke, where he was known under his real name as an illustrator.

In 1962, the translation into French, the book was published by a renowned French Fachbuchverlag what has been acknowledged with some amusement. In 1967 the English translation. Even today, this joke is expanded further in 2006 is a revised edition of his book appeared.

Works (selection)

• Gerolf Steiner: animal drawings in shortcuts. Stuttgart: G. Fischer 1982; Heidelberg: Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 3rd edition, 2006, ISBN 978-3-8274-1702-2 Japanese: Dōbutsue asobi: Chokkan de toraeru dōbutsuga (動物 絵 あそび:直観 で とらえる 動物 画). Tokyo: Shisakusha 1987, ISBN 4783501432nd

• French: Anatomie Et biology of Rhino degree. Un Nouvel Ordre de Mammifères. Paris: Masson, France 1962
• English: The Snouters: Form and Life of the Rhino degree. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1967
• Italian: I Rinogradi. Padova: Muzzio 1992 ISBN 88-7021-485-0
• Japanese: Bikōri: Atarashiku hakken sareta honyūrui no Kozo to seikatsu (鼻 行 类:新しく 発見 さ れ た 哺乳類 の 構造 と 生活). Tokyo: Shisakusha 1987, ISBN 4783501459th