Leo Brongersma

Who was Leo Brongersma?

Leo Daniel Brongersma was a Dutch zoologist, herpetologist, author, and lecturer.

Brongersma was born in Bloemendaal, North Holland, and earned his PhD at the University of Amsterdam in 1934. He was probably best known for his book European Atlantic Turtles, which was published in 1972, but he also served as the director of the Natural History Museum, Leiden and lectured at Leiden University until he retired at age 65. In the 1950s he led several expeditions to collect zoological specimens in New Guinea. He described many new reptile species from the Indo-Australian Archipelago and New Guinea. He was also a Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. He died at his home in Leiden in 1994.