Bohumil Shimek
Bohumil Shimek | |
---|---|
Born | June 25, 1861 |
Died | January 30, 1937 (aged 75) |
Occupation(s) | professor, naturalist |
Children | Frank Shimek[1] |
Parent(s) | Maria Theresa and Francis Joseph Shimek |
Bohumil Shimek (June 25, 1861 – January 30, 1937) was an American naturalist, conservationist, and a professor at the University of Iowa. The Shimek State Forest in Iowa is named after him.
Life
Family and early life
Shimek was born on a farm near
Education and career
Bohumil Shimek first attended college in 1878 at the University of Iowa as a student of engineering. During this time he became acquainted with
Shimek traveled extensively in North America studying nature, and also spent time traveling in Czechoslovakia, and Nicaragua. He especially traveled extensively throughout the American midwest and throughout every region of Iowa. Records show that between 1925 and 1928 Shimek had collected more than 10,000 specimens in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Illinois. It has been estimated that, over his lifetime, Shimek contributed 200,000 specimens of vascular plants and 5,000 specimens of bryophytes to the collection.
He was a member of the Iowa State Geological Board. He was also chairman of the geological section of the International Scientific Congress held in Europe in 1911 as a tribute to his important contributions. The Geological Society of America awarded him a research grant in 1936.
Political involvement
Shimek worked for the independence of
Death
In 1932, Shimek retired after teaching for over 46 years. He died in Iowa City, Iowa, on January 30, 1937, of heart complications caused by influenza. He was 75 years old at the time of his death.[5]
His services to Iowa and education were memorialized by the Iowa legislature in a unanimous resolution of tribute, passed after his death, on February 1, 1937.
Legacy
In a series of papers written in 1890, 1896, and 1898,[6] Shimek concluded that wind (rather than water) was responsible for the deposition of loess in eastern and western Iowa. He based this after extensive study of fossils, habitats, and animal/plant life in the area. This discovery proved to be a major contribution to the study of the environment in the region.
Upon his death Shimek's shell collection contained nearly two and a half million specimens, about half of which are loess fossils. This collection was sold to the Smithsonian Institution, according to his wish.[7][8]
On December 23, 1991, Shimek's house at 529 Brown Street in Iowa City was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[9] The Shimek State Forest in southern Iowa is named after him. Additionally an elementary school in Johnson County, Iowa, is named after him[10] and an award was created in his honor - the Bohumil Shimek Environmental Educator Award.[11]
References
- ^ "LargeImageText". Archived from the original on 2010-06-29. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
- ^ University of Iowa: Papers of Bohumil Shimek Archived October 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Wurtz, Charles (October 1957). "Henry Augustus Pilsbry". The Nautilus. 71: 74.
- ^ Iowa Academy of Science: Bohumil Shimek Archived May 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Iowa Academy of Science Archived May 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Smithsonian Institution Archives
- ^ Smithsonian Institution Historical Collections
- ^ Smithsonian Institution
- ^ "Bohumil Shimek House". National Park Service. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
- ^ "Bohumil Shimek Elementary School". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2009-07-04.
- ^ "Awards". Archived from the original on 2010-05-05. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Shimek.