Carl Wiman

Wiman was born on 10 March 1867 in the recently inaugurated Märsta railway station,^[6] located on Husby-Odensala, Stockholm.^[7][8] 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.^[6]

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 who was an amateur geologist and palaeontologist.^[6]

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

Around 1892 Wiman was made curator of the palaeontological collections present in the Geological Institute.[9]

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.^[6]

Vertebrate palaeontology

Wiman's fascination for vertebrate palaeontology began when he described fossil

Around 1920 Wiman's activity extended to foreign continents. Generous donations, in large part by the superintendent at the Royal Swedish Court, 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.^[6]

Sino-Swedish collaboration

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.^[6] The Chinese administration deliberately pursued the collaboration in order to be able to modernize and strengthen their national scientific infrastructure.^[2] 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.^[10]

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 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.^[2]

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.^[2]

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 finished construction in 1931.^[2]

Later life

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.^[2] 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.^[9]

References