Henryk Stenzel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henryk Bronislaw Stenzel (7 February 1899 in Pabianice – 5 September 1980 in Houston), was an American paleontologist of Polish and Jewish descent.[1]
Biographical data
Biography
Born Henryk Sztencel, he studied at the University of Breslau, where the administration forced him to change the spelling of his name.[2][3] In 1922 he got a doctoral degree on the basis of a thesis prepared under Hans Cloos. In 1925 he emigrated to the USA, where in 1929 he married Elsie née Brodbeck.[4] He worked on Texas A&M University (then Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas), University of Texas at Austin,[5] University of Houston, Rice University, and Louisiana State University.[2] He retired in 1977 because of health issues;[4] he died after a long illness.[2]
Functions and dignities
- President of the Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists (1949–50)[2]
- President of the Paleontological Society (1955–56)[2]
- Officiale delegate of the USA to the International Geological Congress (Mexico City, 1956)[2]
- Honorary member of the Gulf Coast Section, Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists[6]
Scientific achievements
In the USA Stenzel worked mainly on Tertiary paleontology, including speciation in fossil bivalves.[7] He described several new taxa of fossil bivalves.[8] His main achievement is a complete taxonomic revision of fossil oysters, published as a separate volume of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology (volume N-3, 1971).[9]
Eponymy
Stenzelia MacNeil, 1954,[10] a genus (or subgenus) of Eocene bivalves, Stenzeloceras Whetstone & Teichert, 1978, a genus of Cretaceous nautiloids, and a few species[8] have been named in his honor.