Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Halszka Osmólska 1930 - 2008

From Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska:

It is with deepest regret to announce the death of Professor Halszka Osmólska on March 31, 2008, at the age of 78 years, after a heavy illness. She was born on September 15, 1930 in Poznań, Poland. In 1952 she graduated from the Faculty of Biology and Earth Sciences of the Poznań University, after a three years course in biology, and then moved to Warsaw, where in 1955 she was granted the degree of Master of Biological Sciences at the University of Warsaw, and in 1962 the Ph. D. in Biological Sciences at the Faculty of Geology of the same University.

Beginning with 1955 she was working at the Institute of Paleobiology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, as an assistant professor, associate professor, docent and a full professor. In 1974 -- 1983 she was the deputy director of the Institute, and in 1984-1989 the director. In 1975 -- 1992 she was the editor of /Acta Palaeontologica Polonica/. She was a member of various scientific societies and committees.

During the first half of her scientific life she was engaged in studies on the Late Devonian and Carboniferous trilobites of Poland and Eurasia and became a well-known specialist on them. Beginning with 1969 she changed her scientific interests and started to study the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs and other reptiles from the Gobi Desert, and soon became an authority in this field. She was a co-author and co-editor (with David W, Weishampel and Peter Dodson) of the famous book "The Dinosauria", published by the University of California Press. The first edition of the book was published in 1990, the second in 2004.

Halszka has been a hard worker, entirely devoted to science. She had a very kind and serene character, with unusual sense of humor, and modesty. She had a long and happy family life with her late husband Tadeusz, and left behind the son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. She will be missed and long remembered by those of us
who knew and loved her.