Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh

Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh (January 31, 1910 - June 8, 1948) was a Swedish palaeontologist and geologist. Säve-Söderbergh was born at Falun, the son of the neurologist Gotthard Söderbergh and Inga Säve. He passed his G.C.E. at Gothenburg in 1928 and took bachelor's and licentiate's degrees at Uppsala University in 1931 and 1933, respectively. He was appointed professor of geology, historical geology in particular, at Uppsala in 1937.

Säve-Söderbergh participated in the Danish scientific expeditions to East Greenland in 1931-1934 and 1936. He brought back fossils of "Ichthyostega," by then the earliest known tetrapod, and published an extensive preliminary report on it in 1932. [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1932). Preliminary note on Devonian stegocephalians from East Greenland. "Meddelelser om Gr¢nland, 94(7)," 1-107.] He also collected fossils on Cyprus (1930), in England and Scotland (1934), and Estonia (1936). Säve-Söderbergh went on to study the biostratigraphy of the East Greenland Palaeozoic [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1932). Notes on Devonian stratigraphy of East Greenland. "Meddelelser om Gr¢nland, 94(4)," 1-40.] [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1933). Further contributions to the Devonian stratigraphy of East Greenland. 1. Results from the summer expedition 1932. "Meddelelser om Gr¢nland, 96(1)," 1-40.] [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1934). Further contributions to the Devonian stratigraphy of East Greenland. 2. Investigations on Gauss Peninsula during the summer of 1933. With an appendix: Notes on the geology of the Passage Hills (East Greenland). "Meddelelser om Gr¢nland, 96(2)," 1-74.] and the problem of skull bone homologies among fishes and tetrapods. [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1933). The dermal bones of the head and the lateral line system in "Osteolepis macrolepidotus" Ag. With remarks on the terminology of the lateral line system and on the dermal bones of certain other crossopterygians. "Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis, (4)9," 1-129.] He also investigated the cranial anatomy of Triassic stegocephalians from East Greenland [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1935). On the dermal bones of the head in labyrinthodont stegocephalians and primitive Reptilia with special reference to Eotriassic stegocephalians from East Greenland. "Meddelelser om Gr¢nland, 98(3)," 1-211.] and Spitsbergen [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1936). On the morphology of Triassic stegocephalians from Spitsbergen, and the interpretation of the endocranium in the Labyrinthodontia. "Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar, 3(16)," 1-181.] and of Devonian lungfish [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1937). On "Rhynchodipterus elginensis" n.g., n.sp., representing a new group of dipnoan-like Choanata from the Upper Devonian of East Greenland and Scotland. "Arkiv för Zoologi, 29B," 1-8.] [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1952). On the skull of "Chirodipterus wildungensis" Gross, an Upper Devonian Dipnoan from Wildungen. "Kungliga Svenska Vetenskapsakademiens Handlingar, (4)3(4)", 1-28.] ; he intended to carry out a broad study of both Recent and fossil lungfish.

Other works by Säve-Söderbergh include a comparative study of the lateral line system [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1941). On the dermal bones of the head in Osteolepis macrolepidotus Ag. and the interpretation of the lateral line system in certain primitive vertebrates. "Zoologiska Bidrag från Uppsala, 20," 523-541] and an analysis of the trigeminal musculature in lower tetrapods [Säve-Söderbergh, G. (1945). Notes on the trigeminal musculature in non-mammalian tetrapods. "Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarum Upsaliensis, (4)13," 1-59.] .

Tuberculosis thwarted Säve-Söderbergh’s career. He died at Solbacken, a sanatorium in Dalarna. His research on the Devonian tetrapod "Ichthyostega" was continued by Erik Jarvik. Säve-Söderbergh was made an honorary doctor at Uppsala in 1942 and was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1948. He was the brother of egyptologist Torgny Säve-Söderbergh (1914 - 1998) and father of Bengt Säve-Söderbergh (b. 1940), former ambassador and Secretary of State.

Biography

[By Erik Jarvik.] Gunnar Säve-Söderbergh. In: "Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok", vol. 7, p. 413. Stockholm: Bonnier, 1954. [In Swedish.]

References