Scienceגאורג האז

Georg Haas

Georg Haas was an Austrian-born Israeli zoologist and paleontologist who taught and did research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1932 to 1976.

1905 to 1981Founding zoological research in IsraelFossil legged snakes from Ein YabrudResearch on reptiles and mollusks

Born: 19 January 1905, Vienna
Died: 13 September 1981, Jerusalem
Occupation: paleontologist, herpetologist, zoologist, zoological collector
Education: University of Vienna

Georg Haas was born in 1905 in Vienna

Georg Haas was born in Vienna, Austria, on 19 January 1905. He had a broad classical education and also knew Greek literature and history and the Roman period.

He studied zoology and paleontology at the University of Vienna and earned a doctorate in 1928 for work on the anatomy of primitive snakes. In 1931 and 1932 he trained at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin, where he studied protozoa.

In 1932 he accepted an invitation from Shimon Bodenheimer, moved to the Land of Israel and joined the Hebrew University, where he worked until he retired in 1976. He studied reptiles and mollusks, built up the university's collections and described new species. He found fossil snakes with legs in a quarry at Ein Yabrud, north of Jerusalem.

He also studied animal bones from prehistoric sites, working with archaeologists René Neuville and Moshe Stekelis. His students included Yehudah Werner, Eitan Tchernov and Ephraim Katzir.

He received the Rothschild Prize in 1964 and joined the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in 1966. He died in Jerusalem on 13 September 1981 and kept up his research until then.