Erik Stensiö

Who was Erik Stensiö?

Erik Helge Osvald Stensiö ForMemRS was a Swedish paleozoologist.

Erik Andersson, as his original name was, was born in the village of Stensjö in Döderhult parish in Kalmar County; he later took his new surname from his place of origin and is occasionally referred to with both names. He received his Ph.D. and a docentship in paleontology from Uppsala University in 1921 and became professor and keeper at the Zoopaleontological department of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm in 1923, a position he held until his retirement in 1959.

Stensiö specialized in the anatomy and evolution of "lower" vertebrates. His studies of placoderms showed them to be related to modern sharks. His first major work was Triassic fishes from Spitzbergen was based on material collected during his expeditions to Spitzbergen in 1912, 1913, 1915 and 1916. For his work, The Downtonian and Devonian Vertebrates of Spitzbergen, Part I, Stensiö was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences in 1926.