Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás
Bajazid Elmaz Doda | |
---|---|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Geology, Paleontology |
Life
Nopcsa was born in 1877 in Déva,
On 20 November 1906 Nopcsa met the then eighteen-year-old
[H]e has been the only person who has truly loved me and in whom I had full confidence, never doubting for a moment that he would misuse my trust.
Additionally, Nopcsa was interested in
In 1907 on one of his expeditions into the Albanian mountains, he was held hostage by the bandit Mustafa Lita, together with Bajazid Doda. Lita demanded ten thousand Turkish pounds for his release.[6] In his memoirs Nopcsa described his elaborate plan to get out of this situation, which involved being taken to Prizren as a spy.[10] He was eventually rescued by Doda's father, who had brought 'ten armed retainers'.[11][10]
In 1912 the Balkan states joined forces to drive out the Turks. However, afterwards the newly liberated states immediately plunged into internal conflicts. During these Balkan Wars, Nopcsa spied for Austria-Hungary.[12] Out of these conflicts, Albania arose as an independent state, which needed a king. Nopcsa volunteered, suggesting he would use money he would gain from marrying a rich American girl to fund the war efforts, however, to no avail.[12][13]
But Nopcsa's tenure in the Geological Institute was short-lived, he soon became bored of the sedentary job. He went to Europe on a motorcycle journey together with his long-standing Albanian secretary and lover
The reason that I shot my longtime friend and secretary, Mr Bayazid Elmas Doda, in his sleep without his suspecting at all is that I did not wish to leave him behind sick, in misery and without a penny, because he would have suffered too much.
Nopcsa left behind a considerable quantity of scientific publications and private diaries. The diaries paint a picture of a complex man with great intuition, but without the ability to understand the motives of others. His devotion to the cause of the Albanians was in contrast to his sociopathic insensitivity. In his diaries he nonchalantly wrote about his bid to become king of Albania:[20]
Once a reigning European monarch, I would have no difficulty coming up with the further funds needed by marrying a wealthy American heiress aspiring to royalty, a step which under other circumstances I would have been loath to take.'
During his lifetime Nopcsa wrote a memoir based on diaries and notes from 1897 to 1917. Even though he finished the memoir around 1929, it was never published during his lifetime.[7] Only in 2001 was it published in German and it was later translated to English in 2014 as Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer: A Transylvanian Baron at the Birth of Albanian Independence, edited by Robert Elsie.[7][11]
Contributions to paleobiology and geology
Nopcsa's main contribution to
Another of Nopcsa's theories that was ahead of its time was that birds evolved from ground-dwelling dinosaurs, which is the theory of cursorial origin of flight.[24] He theorized that the Proavis, a theorized predecessor of birds, was running animal with forearms lifted off the ground, which they would flap as they made a jump. The scales on its forearms would develop into feathers to aid this, and eventually allowing for flight.[24] This theory found favor in the 1960s and later gained wide acceptance, though later fossil finds of tree-living feathered dinosaurs suggest the development of flight may have been more complex than Nopcsa envisioned. Additionally, Nopcsa's conclusion that at least some Mesozoic era reptiles were warm-blooded[17] is now shared by much of the scientific community.
Nopcsa studied
Nopcsa also created a theory about the dinosaurs'
Nopcsa discovered and named several species in his lifetime. In 1899 he named the species Mochlodon robustus,[32] which he later renamed to Rhabdodon robustum in 1915.[33] He also named Struthiosaurus transylvanicus, which he described in 1915.[6][34] In 1928 he named the Teinurosaurus (meaning "extended tail lizard").[35][36] He named the turtle species Kallokibotion bajazidi, which literally means 'beautiful box of Bajazid'. The reason for this name was that the shell reminded him of Bajazid's arse.[6]
Nopcsa was also interested in evolutionary theory,[37] especially on macroevolution, on which the fossil record can yield relevant data. [38]
Nopcsa was also an important geologist.[9] Indeed, Nopcsa was one of the first scholars to study the geology of the western Balkans, particularly northern Albania.[2]
Contribution to Albanian studies
Nopcsa became fascinated with Albania during his lifetime, probably through the tales of Albania's mountain tribesmen, to which he was first introduced by Louis Drašković, a man thought to be his first lover.[9] During his lifetime Nopcsa published more than fifty scientific studies concerning Albania, covering a wide range of linguistics, folklore, ethnology, history and kanun (that is, Albanian customary law).[39] He was one of the leading experts on Albania in his time.[39]
After Nopcsa's death, several of his important manuscripts were left unpublished. He participated in the work of the
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Elsie, Robert. "Baron Franz Nopcsa and his contribution to Albanian studies". Albanian Photography. Archived from the original on 2014-06-13. Additional archives: 13 June 2014(Date mismatch), 25 February 2011. The essay, first published on Elsie's website, is the basis for the "Introduction" to Nopcsa's memoirs titled Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer (2014) edited by Robert Elsie.
- ^ a b "ALBANIA / GEOLOGY – ORIGINAL PUBLISHER'S PROOF: Geologische Karte von Nordalbanien aufgenommen von Dr. Franz Baron Nopcsa 1905 – 1916. Franz Baron NOPCSA von Felső-Szilvás (1877–1933). Budapest: Magyar Állami Földtani Intézet (Geological Institute of Hu)". www.pahor.de. Archived from the original on 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ^ Bressan, David. "Baron Nopcsa: More than just Transylvanian dinosaurs". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ^ a b c Bressan, David. "Baron Nopcsa: More than just Transylvanian dinosaurs". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
- ^ "Rocky Road: Franz Baron Nopcsa". www.strangescience.net. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
- ^ ISBN 9780231543392.
- ^ ISBN 978-6155225802.
- ^ "The Photo Collection of Bajazid Doda". www.albanianphotography.net. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ^ a b c d e f Veselka, Cristian Movilă,Vanessa. "History Forgot This Rogue Aristocrat Who Discovered Dinosaurs and Died Penniless". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "1907 | Baron Franz Nopcsa: The Baron Held Hostage in the Mountains of Dibra". www.albanianhistory.net. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 9781107010796.
- ^ "Working With Dinosaurs | Science and Technology | BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
- ^ "Eszenyi Miklós Felsõszilvási Nopcsa Ferenc" (PDF). oszk.hu (in Hungarian).
- .
- ^ ISBN 9781400848836.
- ^ a b "Nopsca was a funny old fossil". Stuff.co.nz. 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
- ^ Elbein, Asher (2016-04-04). "Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs: Baron, Scientist, Swashbuckler, Spy: The Colorful Life and Tragic Death of Franz Nopcsa". Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs. Retrieved 2019-03-01.
- ^ ISBN 9781472136701.
- ISBN 9780141989037.
- ^ a b c "Franz Nopcsa: the dashing baron who discovered dwarf dinosaurs". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
- ISBN 9780300165692.
- ISBN 978-1-351-18957-6.
- ^ ISBN 9788121916394.
- PMID 20435913.
- PMID 22106812.
- doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.01.026. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2017-07-30.
- ^ June 7, Bjorn Carey |; ET, 2006 09:00am (7 June 2006). "Dwarf Dinosaur Discovered". Live Science. Retrieved 2019-03-02.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - S2CID 4361820.
- ^ Perlman, David (2006-06-08). "Studies reveal pygmy dinosaur species / 'Tiny' cousins of giants about 20 feet long". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- S2CID 90627697.
- ^ Nopcsa, F. (1900). "Dinosaurierreste aus Siebenbürgen (Schädel von Limnosaurus transsylvanicus nov. gen. et spec.)". Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. 68: 555–591.
- PMID 23028518.
- ^ Nopcsa, F. (1915). "Die dinosaurier der Siebenbürgischen landesteile Ungarns". Mitteilungen aus dem Jahrbuche der Königlich-Ungarischen Geologischen Reichsanstalt. 23: 1–24.
- ^ Nopcsa, F (1928). "The genera of reptiles". Palaeobiol. 1: 163–188.
- ISBN 9780520067264.
- S2CID 253480015.
- ISSN 0370-2774.
- ^ ISBN 9780810873803.
- ^ "1913 | Baron Franz Nopcsa: The Congress of Trieste". www.albanianhistory.net. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
- ^ "[Nopca's Diaries] : Albania : Bulgarien : Notizbücher". Europeana Collections. Retrieved 2019-03-03.
Other sources
- István Főzy: Nopcsa báró és a Kárpát-medence dinoszauruszai (Baron Franz Nopcsa and the Dinosaurs of the Carpathian-basin), Alfadat-Press, Tatabánya. ISBN 9638103248.
- Gëzim Alpion (2002): Baron Franz Nopcsa and his Ambition for the Albanian Throne. BESA Journal, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 25–32. ISSN 1366-8536
- Gareth Dyke (2011): The Dinosaur Baron of Transylvania, Scientific American, October, vol. 305, no. 4, pp. 81–83.
- David B. Weishampel and C. M. Jianu (1995). The centennial of Transylvanian dinosaur discoveries: A reexamination of the life of Franz Baron Nopcsa. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15 (3, Suppl.): p. 60A.
- Ing ISBN 80-205-0374-9
- Elsie, Robert (1999). "The Viennese Scholar Who Almost Became King of Albania: Baron Franz Nopcsa and His Contribution to Albanian Studies" (PDF). East European Quarterly. 33 (3): 327–345.
- Nopcsa, Franz (2014). ISBN 978-6155225802.
- Weishampel, David B.; Reif, Wolf-Ernst (1984). "The Work of Franz Baron Nopcsa (1877-1933) Dinosaurs, Evolution and Theoretical Tectonics" (PDF). Jb. Geol. B.-A. 127 (2): 187–203. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-06.
- Baron Franz Nopcsa and His Dream for the Albanian Throne – essay by Gëzim Alpion (2002), a British scholar of East European studies.
- "Baron Franz Nopcsa", Encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & queer culture
- "Histories: King of the duck-billed dinosaurs", New Scientist (2005)
- János Magyar (2021): 125 éve találták az erdélyi dinoszauruszokat! Greenfo.hu (In Hungarian language)
- Botfalvai, G., Csiki-Sava, Z., Kocsis, L., Albert, G., Magyar, J., Bodor, E. R., Ţabără, D., Ulyanov, A. & Makádi, L. (2021). ‘X’marks the spot! Sedimentological, geochemical and palaeontological investigations of Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) vertebrate fossil localities from the Vălioara valley (Densuş-Ciula Formation, Hațeg Basin, Romania). Cretaceous Research, 123, 104781.