{{Short description|Swedish palaeontologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Carl Wiman | image = Carl Wiman.png | alt = Black-and-white photograph of Carl Wiman | caption = Carl Wiman in 1937, aged 70 | birth_name = Carl Johan Josef Ernst Wiman | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1867|03|10}} | birth_place = [[Stockholm]], Sweden | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1944|06|15|1867|03|10}} | death_place = [[Uppsala]], Sweden | resting_place = [[Uppsala gamla kyrkogård]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Wiman, Carl Johan Josef Ernst |url=https://www.svenskagravar.se/gravsatt/94334457 |website=SvenskaGravar |access-date=20 February 2021}}</ref> | education = | alma_mater = [[Uppsala University]] | known_for = | spouse = | children = | awards = | fields = {{plainlist| * [[Palaeontology]] * [[Historical geology]]}} | workplaces = {{plainlist| * Uppsala University * [[Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University|Museum of Evolution]], Uppsala * [[Geological Survey of Sweden]]}} | thesis_title = Über die Graptoliten | thesis_url = https://paleoarchive.com/literature/Wiman1895-Graptoliten.pdf | thesis_year = 1895 | doctoral_advisor = [[Arvid Högbom]] | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | signature = | parents =
}}
'''Carl Johan Josef Ernst Wiman''' (March 10, 1867 – June 15, 1944) was a Swedish [[Palaeontology|palaeontologist]], the first [[professor]] of palaeontology and [[historical geology]] at [[Uppsala University]], and the father of Swedish [[vertebrate palaeontology]].<ref name="Ebbestad 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Ebbestad |first1=Jan Ove R. |title=Carl Wiman and the foundation of Mesozoic vertebrate palaeontology in Sweden |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |date=2016 |volume=434 |issue=1 |pages=15–29 |doi=10.1144/SP434.15 |bibcode=2016GSLSP.434...15E |s2cid=87927197 |url=https://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/434/1/15 |access-date=14 February 2021 |ref=Ebbestad 2016|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Wiman was instrumental in the construction of the [[Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University#Paleontological section|Palaeontological Museum of Uppsala University]] (now part of the [[Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University|Museum of Evolution]]), which contains the largest collection of Chinese fossil vertebrate material outside China.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />
He is responsible for naming the genera ''Helopus'' (renamed ''[[Euhelopus]]'' because ''Helopus'' was already in use) and ''[[Tanius]]'',<ref name=CW29>{{cite journal |last=Wiman |first=Carl |year=1930 |title=Die Kreide-Dinosaurier aus Shantung |journal=Palaeontologia Sinica, Series C |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=1–67 |language=German}}</ref> and the species ''[[Pentaceratops|Pentaceratops fenestratus]]''<ref name=CW30>{{cite journal |last=Wiman |first=Carl |year=1930 |title=Über Ceratopsia aus der Oberen Kreide in New Mexico |journal=Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis |series=Series 4 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=1–19 |language=German}}</ref> and ''[[Parasaurolophus|Parasaurolophus tubicen]]''.<ref name=CW31>{{cite journal |last=Wiman |first=Carl |year=1931 |title=''Parasaurolophus tubicen'', n. sp. aus der Kreide in New Mexico |journal=Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis |series=Series 4 |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=1–11 |language=German}}</ref> He was also the first to suggest that the hollow cranial crests of [[lambeosaurine]] [[hadrosaurid|duckbill]] dinosaurs could be used as a horn-like noisemaker.<ref name=CW31/>
== Early life == === Family === [[File:Carl Wiman 1890.png|thumb|Photograph of a 23-year-old Carl Wiman, 1890.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />]] Wiman was born on 10 March 1867 in the recently inaugurated [[:sv:Märsta station|Märsta railway station]],<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh">{{cite journal |last1=Gunnar |first1=Säve-Söderbergh |title=Carl Wiman |journal=Geologiska Föreningen i Stockholm Förhandlingar |date=1946 |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=393–404 |doi=10.1080/11035894609446465 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/11035894609446465 |access-date=14 February 2021 |ref=Säve-Söderbergh|url-access=subscription }}</ref> located on [[:sv:Husby-Ärlinghundra och Odensala distrikt|Husby-Odensala]], [[Stockholm]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Husby-Ärlinghundra kyrkoarkiv, Födelse- och dopböcker, SE/SSA/1518/C I/4 (1861-1869) |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/00057764_00025 |access-date=14 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nordisk familjebok / Uggleupplagan. 32. Werth - Väderkvarn |url=https://runeberg.org/nfcl/0324.html |website=Projekt Runeberg |access-date=14 February 2021 |pages=599–600 |language=Swedish |date=1921}}</ref> Wiman's father was a Swedish army captain and Märsta's station-master between 1866 and 1879. Wiman's mother was from [[Aachen]], the daughter of a wealthy Catholic pharmaceutical chemist.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
Wiman's childhood was spent accompanying his father on excursions in Uppsala, an amateur naturalist who was also considered to have been a keen hunter. Through these, he gained an interest in all aspects of nature, and performed extensive observations of plants and animals, such as collecting insects. His enjoyment for geology was most likely influenced by visits to his mother's home, where he came upon outcrops of [[cretaceous]] [[chalk]] that correspond to the [[Maastricht Formation]]. In 1885, aged 18, he was introduced to the study of palaeontology by a maternal uncle, a hotel proprietor in [[Valkenburg aan de Geul|Valkenburg]] who was an amateur geologist and palaeontologist.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
=== Education === In 1888 the 21-year-old Wiman began his studies at Uppsala University and in 1895 obtained his PhD degree with the thesis "''Über die Graptoliten''" (On [[Graptolites]]).<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
== Career == === Uppsala University=== He began his scientific career in 1891 under [[Arvid Högbom]], centered around Jämtland and other [[Cambrian]]-[[Silurian]] underwater fossiliferous districts that were of interest but difficult to access. During this time Wiman also refined the method of freeing fossils by dissolving the matrix in [[hydrochloric]] or [[hydrofluoric acid]], which helped advance the field of graptolite zoology.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
Around 1892 Wiman was made curator of the palaeontological collections present in the Geological Institute.<ref name="Kear 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Kear |first1=Benjamin K. |last2=Streng |first2=Michael |last3=Ebbestad |first3=Jan Ove R. |title=Carl Wiman's legacy: 100 years of Swedish palaeontology |journal=GFF |date=2013 |volume=135 |issue=1 |pages=1–2 |doi=10.1080/11035897.2013.798096 |s2cid=129525729 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/11035897.2013.798096 |access-date=14 February 2021 |ref=Kear 2013|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 1896 Wiman was made lecturer of palaeontology and pre-[[Quaternary]] historical geology by his PhD advisor, now professor, Arvid Högbom, who preferred to devote his time to other scientific endeavors. Nevertheless, Högbom constantly sought for Wiman's success, and actively promoted the project of an independent professorship in palaeontology and historical geology. This would later prove successful, with Wiman's obtaining a personal professorship in 1911, and finally a chaired professorship in 1922.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
=== Vertebrate palaeontology === Wiman's fascination for vertebrate palaeontology began when he described fossil [[Eocene]] [[penguins]] and other [[birds]] found during the first [[Swedish Antarctic Expedition|Swedish Antarctic expedition]] of 1901-03.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" /> In 1908 he found in [[Spitsbergen]], [[Svalbard]], what he considered to be his most important discovery, a rich fossiliferous [[Horizon (geology)|horizon]], later known as the "Fish Horizon".<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" /> It was important in the sense that it triggered a number of successful Swedish expeditions that focused on finding vertebrate fossils, resulting in the collection of several [[fish]], [[marine reptile]] (majorly [[Ichthyosauria|Ichthyosaurs]]), and [[Temnospondyli]] fossils, ultimately leading to the foundation of the Palaeontological Institute in Uppsala and the elevation of Swedish vertebrate palaeontology into the international limelight.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />
In order to compare the Spitsbergen vertebrate fossils, Wiman purchased or collected fossils from [[Besano]] ([[Switzerland]]), [[Peterborough]] ([[England]]), and [[Holzmaden]] ([[Germany]]). Among the best of these specimens was a young Ichthyosaur with evidences of its soft parts preserved. In virtue of generous Swedish donors, Wiman's collection of reptilian fossils grew, and slowly became his principal field of interest. For example, he devoted much time and money to the [[Pterosauria]] and published several papers about that group. He was especially interested in the biological side of that subject and tried to elucidate the life of pterosaurs by studies on living [[Chiroptera]] (bats). Such experiments involved making them swim in warm water, for, as he pointed out himself, he did not want to treat the animals in an unfriendly way.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
Around 1920 Wiman's activity extended to foreign continents. Generous donations, in large part by the superintendent at the Royal Swedish Court, [[:sv:Axel Lagrelius|Axel Lagrelius]], enabled Wiman to purchase and acquire a number of fine reptile specimens from Europe, North America, and from the famous American fossil hunter [[Charles Hazelius Sternberg]], who made a special expedition to New Mexico for the Uppsala collections in 1921.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" />
=== Sino-Swedish collaboration === [[File:Chinese boxes containing vertebrate fossils 1923.png|thumb|Carl Wiman and some of the 300 boxes of Chinese vertebrate fossil that arrived in Uppsala during the Summer of 1923.<ref name="Ebbestad 2011" />]] [[Johan Gunnar Andersson]], a prominent Swedish geologist and archaeologist, and Wiman's friend since early youth, was working in China in 1919. Hearing about this, Wiman obtained generous state grants, in large part because of his proximity to Lagrelius, which Wiman would use to fund several expeditions to China.<ref name="Säve-Söderbergh" /> The Chinese administration deliberately pursued the collaboration in order to be able to modernize and strengthen their national scientific infrastructure.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" /> [[Ding Wenjiang]] was the Chinese representative, and described that the material should stay in Uppsala, while as many duplicate specimens as possible should be repatriated to China after study.<ref name="Ebbestad 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Ebbestad |first1=Jan Ove R. |last2=Berg-Madsen |first2=Vivianne |title=Wiman's legacy: 100 years of palaeontology in Sweden |journal=Palaeontological Association Newsletter |date=2011 |volume=78 |issue=11 |pages=70–78 |url=http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A461569&dswid=-1452}}</ref>
Wiman sent a few of his students, namely [[Otto Zdansky]], [[Birger Bohlin]], Torsten J. Ringström and [[Erik Stensiö]] from Sweden, as well as non-Swedish scientists such as [[Max Schlosser (zoologist)|Max Schlosser]] and Arthur T. Hopwood. Collectively, between 1919 and 1923, they sent back to Uppsala 783 boxes of Chinese fossils. Some fossils of international interest were four teeth of [[Peking Man]].<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />
=== Palaeontological Museum === Back in Uppsala there were no single facilities that could hold the amount of material pouring in from China. The fossils were consequently stored in five facilities spread over the town.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />
A detailed proposal and budget was put forward in June 1926 to the administration of Uppsala University, urging for the construction of a new museum building. Wiman claimed that the fossil collections were on a par with those of the foremost museums in Europe, and therefore rightly deserved a proper museum building in which to house them. By influence of his friend Lagrelius, who discussed the matter with Crown Prince [[Gustaf VI Adolf]], a memorandum was sent to the Prime Minister. The proposal was approved by the government in 1929, and 791 000 SEK were allocated to the construction of Carl Wiman's palaeontological museum. Unfortunately, the assigned budget made Wiman reduce the scope of his project, but still he enthusiastically hailed it in the press, calling it a "temple to the fossils". The [[Museum of Evolution of Uppsala University#Paleontological section|museum]] finished construction in 1931.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />
== Later life == [[File:Carl Wiman studying Cenozoic mammals.jpg|thumb|Carl Wiman studying Cenozoic mammals from the Lagrelius Collection, July 1938.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" />]] Wiman eventually retired from academic life one year after his museum's completion at age 65. During that time he oversaw the installation of the exhibits and the storing of all dispersed collections. Wiman would continue to work and supervise the running of the museum until a week before his death on 6 June 1944.<ref name="Ebbestad 2016" /> Wiman's only female student, [[Elsa Warburg]], the first female palaeontologist in Sweden, informally administered the institute in the interval immediately following Wiman’s death.<ref name="Kear 2013" />
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiman, Carl}} [[Category:1867 births]] [[Category:1944 deaths]] [[Category:Swedish paleontologists]] [[Category:Academic staff of Uppsala University]]