Ludwig Ruetimeyer

Karl Ludwig Rutimeyer ( born February 26, 1825 Biglen, † November 25, 1895 in Basel) was a Swiss zoologist, geologist, anatomist and paleontologist.

Life

Ludwig Albrecht Rütimeyers father was a pastor, his mother was a born Küpfer. He was the fifth of eight children. Rutimeyer attended high school in Berne from 1838. In 1843 he took up the study of theology at the University of Bern and, after four semesters to studying medicine, which he completed in 1850 by the state exam. 1848 wore at the 33rd meeting of the Swiss Society of Natural Sciences in Solothurn results of his geological investigations of the mountains between Lake Thun and Emme ago. 1850 received his doctorate with a study of the Swiss Nummulitenterrain. In 1848 he was Präses, then president of the Central Section Bern of the Swiss Zofinger association.

After studying in Paris ( with recommendations from his teacher Bernhard Studer ), London and Leiden, and stays in southern Italy and Sicily, he habilitated in 1854 in Bern. In 1853 he was appointed as an associate professor of comparative anatomy at the University of Bern and also taught natural sciences at the local High and Industrial School. In 1855, he received a full professorship at the University of Basel, where he taught until 1894. In 1865 he was rector of the university. At the same time to his work at the Basel University, he was head of the scientific institutions, from 1883 also director of natural history collection in the museum. 1877-1883 undertook Rutimeyer trips to Florence, Lyon, Toulouse, Paris and London, where he met Charles Darwin.

Rutimeyer was in 1855 married to Laura Fankhauser from Burgdorf, the sister of his sister in law. The couple had a son (Ludwig) Leopold Rutimeyer that. Among others, Ludwig Rutimeyer Letters and diaries and letters written by Ludwig Rutimeyer: 1825-1895 issued.

Work

Rutimeyer explored the primeval fauna of Switzerland, but returned especially comprehensive studies on the origin of some groups of mammals. In his attempt at a natural history of cattle in its relations with the ruminants generally from 1867 he laid the foundation for a knowledge of the relations which have existed between the present and fossil ruminants and ungulates. He examined the animal remains discovered in 1850 the stilt houses of the Swiss lakes, the first work to appeared in 1860. Yet his focus was the presentation of changes in the animals since that time. Among other things, he described based on these findings also Torfhund as Canis familiaris palustris Rutimeyer. In the meetings of the Natural History Society in Basel, which he was president from 1860 to 1862, he held 66 lectures and published 36 articles in their negotiations.

Honors

Other works

• Living and fossil pigs, 1857
• Contributions to the knowledge of the fossil horse, 1863 and 1878 online
• The fauna of the lake dwellings of Switzerland, in 1861 online
• Crania helvetica, 1864
• The boundaries of the animal world, 1868
• The change in the animal world in Switzerland since the presence of the people, 1875
• The cattle of the Tertiary epoch, 1878
• Contributions to the natural history of the deer family, 1882