Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh

Gunnar Save-Soderbergh ( born January 31, 1910 in Falun, † June 8, 1948 ) was a Swedish paleontologist and geologist.

Save-Soderbergh was born in Falun, the son of neurologist Gotthard Söderbergh and Inga Säve. He completed his school education from 1928 in Gothenburg and studied at the University of Uppsala later. 1937 he was Professor of Geology and Historical Geology in Uppsala. His brother Torgny Save-Soderbergh (1914-1998) was an Egyptologist and the father of Bengt Save-Soderbergh ( born 1940 ), a former ambassador and secretary of state.

Save-Soderbergh took from 1931 to 1934 and 1936 to lye cook Greenland expeditions of which he brought fossils of Ichthyostega, which represented the earliest known tetrapods at that time. About this findings published Save-Soderbergh 1932 a preliminary report. Save-Soderbergh collected fossils on Cyprus ( 1930), in England and Scotland (1934 ), as well as in Estonia ( 1936) and studied the biostratigraphy of the Paleozoic in East Greenland and scientific issues related to the homology of the cranial bones in fishes and tetrapods. He also examined the cranial anatomy of Stegocephalia from the Triassic of East Greenland and Spitsbergen and lungfish from the Devonian. Further work Save- Söder Berghs deal with comparative studies with the lateral line and the analysis of muscles in lower tetrapods.

A tuberculosis prevented Save- Söder Berghs further career. He died in a sanatorium in Solbacken in Dalarna. His research on the Devonian tetrapod Ichthyostega were continued by Erik Jarvik. Save-Soderbergh 1942 was awarded an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University and was elected a member of the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1948.