Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald

Who was Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald?

Professor Dr. Gustav Heinrich Ralph von Koenigswald was a distinguished paleontologist and geologist who conducted research on hominins, including Homo erectus. Ralph von Koenigswald made many contributions to paleontology during his career. His discoveries and studies of hominid fossils in Java and his studies of other important fossils of south-eastern Asia firmly established his reputation as one of the leading figures of 20th Century paleo-anthropology.

Von Koenigswald was born in Berlin on November 13, 1902, during a period of intense interest and rapid growth in the study of evolution. He began his fossil vertebrate collection when he was fifteen with the acquisition of a rhinoceros molar during an excursion to Mauer, Germany. He subsequently studied geology and paleontology at Berlin, Tübingen, Cologne and Munich.