Arnold Edward Ortmann

Biography

Arnold Edward Ortmann emigrated from Germany and became a leading naturalist in America, spending decades studying mollusks, crustaceans, and the fossils that illuminate the continent's past. He served as a curator and researcher at one of the nation's great museums, publishing reference works that remain valuable to scientists and students alike.

Ortmann's rigorous fieldwork and mentorship of young scholars enriched American biology, and he is remembered as a steady guide to others who sought to understand the natural world before his death in 1927.