(Photo courtesy of the Norwegian entomological society)
Thomas Georg Münster was born in Kristiania (now Oslo) on March 1, 1855. He died in Oslo, on March 10, 1938.
By training, Thomas Georg Münster was a geologist. At different stages of his career he worked as a mint-master at the Kongsberg Silver Mine, as superintendent of mines in Finnmark (1906-1911) and Østlandet (1911-1918), and was a member of Stortinget, the Norwegian Parliament.
Münster was also a very active entomologist. It was Münster who came up with the idea of starting the Norwegian entomological society and the society's main journal, Norsk Entomologisk Tidsskrift (now the Norwegian Journal of Entomology). He was the chairman of the society for 29 years.
The main focus of Münster's work in entomology was on Coleoptera. His collection of Palaearctic beetles included more than 80,000 specimens belonging to about 12,000 species. Münster's beetle collection and library went to our museum. His spare collection, which included mostly Norwegian species, went to Bergen Museum. The list of Münster's entomological publications includes 72 papers. He described about 70 taxa, and many species based on his specimens were described by other entomologists.
References:
Løken, A. (1980) Scandinavian entomologists 6 � Thomas Georg Münster. Entomologica Scandinavica, 11, 41-44.
Natvig, L.R. (1938) Thomas Georg Münster. Norsk entomologisk Tidsskrift, 5, 49-54.
Smetana, A. & Herman, L. (2001) Brief history of taxonomic studies of the Staphylinidae including biographical sketches of the investigators. In: Herman, L. Catalog of the Staphylinidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). 1758 to the end of the second millenium. I. Introduction, history, biographical sketches, and omaliine group. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 265(1), 17-159.
Sømme, L. (2004) Entomologiens historie i Norge. Norsk entomologisk forening 1904-2004. Oslo: Norsk entomologisk forening, 326 pp.
Last updated: April 15, 2009