8 April 1863 – 3 January 1927
Born: Magdeburg, Prussia, Germany. Naturalized citizen of the United States in 1900.
Died: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Occupation: Malacologist; Astacologist. Instructor University of Strassburg, Germany; Curator, Invertebrate Paleontology, Princeton University, 1894-1903; Curator, Invertebrate Zoology, Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, 1900-27; Instructor, University of Pittsburgh, 1909-1927.
Education: University of Kiel, University of Strassburg, Univesity of Jenna, Ph.D. 1885 (student of Ernst Haeckel). University of Pittsburgh, Sc.D., 1911.
Research Interests: Zoogeography, morphology, and systematics of freshwater mollusks, crayfishes, and other aquatic invertebrates.
Travels: Zanzibar (with Ernst Haeckel); Princeton (Peary Relief) Expedition, 1899; eastern United States.
Remarks: Emmigrated to th United States in 1894.
According to H.A. Pilsbry (1927) “In the field he was indefatigable, never sparing himself, deterred by neither exposure or fatigue in the quest of specimens for his researches.”
Married Anna Zaiss at Achern in Baden, Germany in 1894 (one son and two daughters).
Data from: Abbott, R.T., and M.E. Young (eds.). 1973. American Malacologists: A national register of professional and amateur malacologists and private shell collectors and biographies of early American mollusk workers born between 1618 and 1900. American Malacologists, Falls Church, Virginia. Consolidated/Drake Press, Philadelphia. 494 pp.
Other References: Pilsbry, H.A. 1927. Arnold Edward Ortmann. Nautilus 40(4):100-111 + 1 plate.
van der Schalie, H. 1949. Biographic notes on Arnold Edward Ortmann as revealed by some of his letters. (Abstract). American Malacological Union, Inc., News Bulletin and Annual Report. 1948(14):11-12. [Reprinted in Sterkiana 1963. 9:30]
van der Schalie, H. 1951. Arnold Edward Ortmann as revealed by his letters. Nautilus 64(4):134-141.
van der Schalie, H. 1951. Arnold Edward Ortmann as revealed by his letters – II. Nautilus 65(1):23-26.
Partial Bibliography