An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, evolution and ornithology: Dominik von Kripp and evolutionary functional morphology

David B. Weishampel; Wolf Ernst Reif

doi:10.1080/08912963.2012.731408

An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, evolution and ornithology: Dominik von Kripp and evolutionary functional morphology

David B. Weishampel, Wolf Ernst Reif

School of Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Failure of research programmes can say something about the historical times in which they appeared. With this in mind, we review the life and career of Dominik von Kripp, an ornithologist and evolutionary biomechanist working principally in the early 1930s. von Kripp's publications and an unpublished manuscript suggest an innovative research programme that combined biomechanical analysis with taxonomy and evolutionary biology in birds, hadrosaurs, ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs. Despite its publication in well-respected journals, this work was summarily ignored and then eclipsed by the evolutionary synthesis and the German response to it.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	261-281
Number of pages	21
Journal	Historical Biology
Volume	25
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/08912963.2012.731408
State	Published - Apr 2013

Keywords

Dominik von Kripp
biomechanics
functional morphology
history
research programme

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)

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10.1080/08912963.2012.731408

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title = "An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, evolution and ornithology: Dominik von Kripp and evolutionary functional morphology",

abstract = "Failure of research programmes can say something about the historical times in which they appeared. With this in mind, we review the life and career of Dominik von Kripp, an ornithologist and evolutionary biomechanist working principally in the early 1930s. von Kripp's publications and an unpublished manuscript suggest an innovative research programme that combined biomechanical analysis with taxonomy and evolutionary biology in birds, hadrosaurs, ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs. Despite its publication in well-respected journals, this work was summarily ignored and then eclipsed by the evolutionary synthesis and the German response to it.",

keywords = "Dominik von Kripp, biomechanics, functional morphology, history, research programme",

author = "Weishampel, {David B.} and Reif, {Wolf Ernst}",

note = "Funding Information: After he left the University of Innsbruck, von Kripp worked in the Departments of Paleobiology and Paleontology at the University of Vienna [probably by way of a research grant under the supervision of Othenio Abel (Rieppel 2012), but without the status of an employee (Reif 1983)]. He continued to work there from 1931 to 1938. Over the course of this time, von Kripp published nine papers ranging in subject from animal ethology to the application of graphical statics of avian jaw mechanics.",

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doi = "10.1080/08912963.2012.731408",

language = "English (US)",

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journal = "Historical Biology",

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AB - Failure of research programmes can say something about the historical times in which they appeared. With this in mind, we review the life and career of Dominik von Kripp, an ornithologist and evolutionary biomechanist working principally in the early 1930s. von Kripp's publications and an unpublished manuscript suggest an innovative research programme that combined biomechanical analysis with taxonomy and evolutionary biology in birds, hadrosaurs, ichthyosaurs and pterosaurs. Despite its publication in well-respected journals, this work was summarily ignored and then eclipsed by the evolutionary synthesis and the German response to it.

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KW - history

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An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, evolution and ornithology: Dominik von Kripp and evolutionary functional morphology

Abstract

Keywords

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