Michal Greisiger: Difference between revisions

Michal Greisiger (25 December 1851 – 10 September 1912) was a Slovak physician and naturalist. He explored the faun and flora of the Tatra and Szepes, studied paleontology and archaeology. He also worked on public health measures as a physician.

Greisiger was born in Stráňach pod Tatrami to farmer Mihály and Mária Faix where he went to school. He then studied at Kežmarok before joining the University of Vienna in 1872. He worked as a private tutor before returning to study medicine and received a medical degree from Budapest in 1877 and became a physician in Spišská Belá, later becoming the city medical officer. He was involved in medical care for the poor, public health measures against alcoholism and smoking; and began to assemble a herbal garden in the region. He also began to study the local birds, fauna and history. He collected fossils in the Tatra mountains. He explored the Belianska Cave where he discovered a crustacean that was named after him as Lipura greisigeri. Many of his specimen collections are now held in the museums of Keszthely and Poprad.^[1][2][3]

Greisiger married Helén Lersch and they had four daughter including the botanist Irma Juliana. He was involved in the design of the water supply and sewerage system in Spišská Belá. He was a member of the Austro-Hungarian ornithological association from 1881 and was a founding member of the Hungarian Carpathian Association.^[3]