Gerard Smets
Gerard Smets | |
|---|---|
 Undated portrait of Gerard Smets | |
| Born | 25 October 1809[1] |
| Died | after 1895 (aged at least 85-86) Belgium? |
| Known for | geology paleontology science The misidentification of the plant genus Aachenosaurus |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | 5 siblings:
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Gerard Smets, also spelt as Gérard Smets, (25 October 1809[1] — after 1895) was a Belgian paleontologist, scientist, and abbé[2] known for the misidentification of the plant genus Aachenosaurus (now known as Nicolia moresneti), named after the locale of Aachen.
Biography
[edit]Early life
[edit]He was born on 25 October 1809 as the fourth child of Francis Smets and Marie Agnés Abeels in Gotem, Belgium, and he married Johanna Maria Buteneels in Berlingen on 27 April 1832.[1]
Smets and Buteneels had three children together: Jean Thèodore (1836–after 1863), Jacques (1840–1916), and Catherine Elizabeth (1843–1890).[1]
Later life
[edit]During the time he named Aachenosaurus, Smets worked at the Collège Saint-Joseph in Hasselt,[3] and a rumor abounded that he completely withdrew from science out of pure embarrassment after 1888, but not until he had published a paper on turtles in 1889; this rumour was later proven false.[2][failed verification]
Smets published La Culture Du Pin Sylvestre En Campine in 1892,[4] and the last paper he published was in 1895;[citation needed] he died shortly after 1895.
History of the Aachenosaurus
[edit]Aachenosaurus was discovered by Smets in 1887 and it consisted of several fragments of fossilised wood found in the Aachen Formation; he named the species Aachenosaurus multidens, now known as Nicolia moresneti, on 31 October 1888.[3]
Based on these fragments he determined that the specimen was a hadrosaur reaching an estimated 4-5 meters in length which might have had dermal spines.[3] He defended this conclusion, citing that the fossils had been examined visually with the naked eye, magnifying lenses and with the microscope. However, his error was soon demonstrated by Louis Dollo. Smets at first tried to defend his original identification but was again proven wrong by a neutral commission.[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Gérard Smets". gw.geneanet.org. Retrieved 8 November 2024.
- ^ a b c John Wright (2014). The Naming of the Shrew: A Curious History of Latin Names. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 47–49. ISBN 978-1-4088-2035-3.
- ^ a b c Smets, G. (1888). "Notices palaeontologiques". Ann. Soc. Science Brussels (Bulletin de la société Belge de Géologie de Paléontologie & d'Hydrologie). 12 (2): 193–214.
- ^ "La culture du pin sylvestre en Campine". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
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