Max Beier

{{Short description|Viennese zoologist (1903–1979)}} {{distinguish|Maximilian Beier}} '''Max Beier''' (6 April 1903 in Spittal an der Drau – 4 July 1979 in Vienna) was an Austrian arachnologist and entomologist.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.zobodat.at/D/runD/D/cacheD/personen_details.php?nr=3943 |title=Dr. Max Walter Peter Beier |work=Zoologisch-Botanische Datenbank |publisher=Oberösterreichische Landesmuseen |date=December 1980 |accessdate=June 1, 2010 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111205614/http://www.zobodat.at/D/runD/D/cacheD/personen_details.php?nr=3943 |archive-date=2013-11-11}}</ref>

He studied zoology at the University of Vienna, and obtained his doctorate there in 1927.<ref name="BBAS">{{cite journal|url=https://britishspiders.org.uk/system/files/library/050303.pdf |first=Volker |last=Mahnert |title=Professor Dr Max Beier (1903–1979) |journal=Bulletin of the British Arachnological Society |volume=5 |date=1979 |pages=115–116 |issn=0524-4994 }}</ref> He took up a post at the Natural History Museum in Vienna, in the same year, developing an expertise in pseudoscorpions.<ref name="BBAS" />

He was appointed Director of the zoological department of the Vienna Museum in 1962, and retired in 1968.<ref name="BBAS" />

A list of Beier's 398 scientific papers was published, with an obituary, in ''Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien''.<ref name="Kaltenbach">{{Cite Q|Q47036032}}</ref> 252 were on pseudoscorpions.<ref name="BBAS" /> He described and named over 1200 pseudoscorpion species of which 1180 were still valid in 2007.<ref name=harvey>{{Cite Q|Q97482889}}</ref>

He was editor of the ''Orthopterorum Catalogus'' and an updated edition of the volume on insects in the ''{{lang|de|Handbuch der Zoologie}}''.<ref name="BBAS" />

== Awards ==

Beier was awarded the Fabricius Medal in January 1967 of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Angewandte Entomologie (German entomology society).<ref name="BBAS" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fabricius-Medaille - Willkommen! |language=de |url=https://www.dgaae.de/de/fabricius-medaille.html |access-date=2022-04-02 |website=www.dgaae.de}}</ref> In July 1968 he was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Innsbruck.<ref name="BBAS" />

== Personal life ==

Beier and his wife, Irmgard were married in 1931.<ref name="BBAS" /> His death on 4 July 1979<ref>Mahnert says 6 July, but other sources agree on 4 July</ref> was unexpected.<ref name="BBAS" />

==References== {{wikispecies}}

=== Further reading ===

* Beier, Max Walter Peter. In: The International Who's Who 1979–80. (1979)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beier, Max}} Category:20th-century Austrian zoologists Category:Austrian arachnologists Category:Austrian entomologists Category:People from Spittal an der Drau Category:1903 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Museum people